,transcribed from the #aiab ,a4 ,c4 ,fifield edition by ,david ,price1 email ccx#jgdpglaf4org ,picture3 ,photograph of ,samuel ,butler ,the ,note-,books of ,samuel ,butler ,author of 8,erewhon0 99 99 99 99 99 ,selections arranged and edited by ,henry ,festing ,jones 99 99 99 99 99 ,with photogravure portrait by ,emery ,walker from a photograph taken by ,alfred ,cathie in #ahih 99 99 99 99 99 ,london ,a4 ,c4 ,fifield1 #ac ,clifford's ,inn1 ,e4,c4 #aiab 99 99 99 99 99 ,,william ,,brendon ,,and ,,son1 ,,ltd41 ,,printers1 ,,plymouth ,preface ,,early in his life ,samuel ,butler began to carry a note-book and to write down in it anything he wanted to remember2 it might be something he heard some one say1 more commonly it was something he said himself4 ,in one of these notes he gives a reason for making them3 8,one's thoughts fly so fast that one must shoot them2 it is no use trying to put salt on their tails40 ,so he bagged as many as he could hit and preserved them1 re-written on loose sheets of paper which constituted a sort of museum stored with the wise1 beautiful1 and strange creatures that were continually winging their way across the field of his vision4 ,as he became a more expert marksman his collection increased and his museum grew so crowded that he wanted a catalogue4 ,in #ahgd he started an index1 and this led to his reconsidering the notes1 destroying those that he remembered having used in his published books and re-writing the remainder4 ,the re-writing shortened some but it lengthened others and suggested so many new ones that the index was soon of little use and there seemed to be no finality about it 78,making ,notes10 pp4 #ajj-a post74 ,in #ahia he attached the problem afresh and made it a rule to spend an hour every morning re-editing his notes and keeping his index up to date4 ,at his death1 in #aijb1 he left five bound volumes1 with the contents dated and indexed1 about #bbe pages of closely written sermon paper to each volume1 and more than enough unbound and unindexed sheets to made a sixth volume of equal size4 ,in accordance with his own advice to a young writer 7p4 #cfc post71 he wrote the notes in copying ink and kept a pressed copy with me as a precaution against fire2 but during his lifetime1 unless he wanted to refer to something while he was in my chambers1 ,i never looked at them4 ,after his death ,i took them down and went through them4 ,i knew in a general way what ,i should find1 but ,i was not prepared for such a multitude and variety of thoughts1 reflections1 conversations1 incidents4 ,there are entries about his early life at ,langar1 ,handel1 school days at ,shrewsbury1 ,cambridge1 ,christianity1 literature1 ,new ,zealand1 sheep-farming1 philosophy1 painting1 money1 evolution1 morality1 ,italy1 speculation1 photography1 music1 natural history1 archology1 botany1 religion1 book-keeping1 psychology1 metaphysics1 the ,iliad1 the ,odyssey1 ,sicily1 architecture1 ethics1 the ,sonnets of ,shakespeare4 ,i thought of publishing the books just as they stand1 but too many of the entries are of no general interest and too many are of a kind that must wait if they are ever to be published4 ,in addition to these objections the confusion is very great4 ,one would look in the earlier volumes for entries about ,new ,zealand and evolution and in the later ones for entries about the ,odyssey and the ,sonnets1 but there is no attempt at arrangement and anywhere one may come upon something about ,handel1 or a philosophical reflection1 between a note giving the name of the best hotel in an ,italian town and another about ,harry ,nicholls and ,herbert ,campbell as the ,babes in the ,wood in the pantomime at the ,grecian ,theatre4 ,this confusion has a charm1 but it is a charm that would not1 ,i fear1 survive in print and1 personally1 ,i find that it makes the books distracting for continuous reading4 ,moreover they were not intended to be published as they stand 78,preface to ,vol4 ,,ii10 p4 #bae post71 they were intended for his own private use as a quarry from which to take material for his writing1 and it is remarkable that in practice he scarcely ever used them in this way 78,these ,notes10 p4 #bfa post74 ,when he had written and re-written a note and spoken it and repeated it in conversation1 it became so much a part of him that1 if he wanted to introduce it in a book1 it was less trouble to re-state it again from memory than to search through his 8precious indexes0 for it and copy it 78,gadshill and ,trapani10 p4 #aid1 8,at ,piora10 p4 #bgb post74 ,but he could not have re-stated a note from memory if he had not learnt it by writing it1 so that it may be said that he did use the notes for his books1 though not precisely in the way he originally intended4 ,and the constant re-writing and re-considering were useful also by forcing him to settle exactly what he thought and to state it as clearly and tersely as possible4 ,in this way the making of the notes must have had an influence on the formation of his style--though here again he had no such idea in his mind when writing them 78,style10 pp4 #ahf-g post7 ,in one of the notes he says3 8,a man may make1 as it were1 cash entries of himself in a day-book1 but the entries in the ledger and the balancing of the accounts should be done by others40 ,when ,i began to write the ,memoir of ,butler on which ,i am still engaged1 ,i marked all the more autobiographical notes and had them copied2 again ,i was struck by the interest1 the variety1 and the confusion of those ,i left untouched4 ,it seemed to me that any one who undertook to become ,butler's accountant and to post his entries upon himself would have to settle first how many and what accounts to open in the ledger1 and this could not be done until it had been settled which items were to be selected for posting4 ,it was the difficulty of those who dare not go into the water until after they have learnt to swim4 ,i doubt whether ,i should ever have made the plunge if it had not been for the interest which ,mr4 ,desmond ,mac,carthy took in ,butler and his writings4 ,he had occasionally browsed on my copy of the books1 and when he became editor of a review1 the ,new ,quarterly1 he asked for some of the notes for publication1 thus providing a practical and simple way of entering upon the business without any very alarming plunge4 ,i talked his proposal over with ,mr4 ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild1 ,butler's literary executor1 and1 having obtained his approval1 set to work4 ,from ,november #aijg to ,may #aiaj1 inclusive1 the ,new ,quarterly published six groups of notes and the long note on 8,genius0 7pp4 #agd-h post74 ,the experience gained in selecting1 arranging1 and editing these items has been of great use to me and ,i thank the proprietor and editor of the ,new ,quarterly for permission to republish such of the notes as appeared in their review4 ,in preparing this book ,i began by going through the notes again and marking all that seemed to fall within certain groups roughly indicated by the arrangement in the review4 ,i had these selected items copied1 distributed them among those which were already in print1 shuffled them and turned them over1 meditating on them1 familiarising myself with them and tentatively forming new groups4 ,while doing this ,i was continually gleaning from the books more notes which ,i had overlooked1 and making such verbal alterations as seemed necessary to avoid repetition1 to correct obvious errors and to remove causes of reasonable offence4 ,the ease with which two or more notes would condense into one was sometimes surprising1 but there were cases in which the language had to be varied and others in which a few words had to be added to bridge over a gap2 as a rule1 however1 the necessary words were lying ready in some other note4 ,i also reconsidered the titles and provided titles for many notes which had none4 ,in making these verbal alterations ,i bore in mind ,butler's own views on the subject which ,i found in a note about editing letters3 8,granted that an editor1 like a translator1 should keep as religiously close to the original text as he reasonably can1 and1 in every alteration1 should consider what the writer would have wished and done if he or she could have been consulted1 yet1 subject to these limitations1 he should be free to alter according to his discretion or indiscretion40 ,my 8discretion or indiscretion0 was less seriously strained in making textual changes than in determining how many1 and what1 groups to have and which notes1 in what order1 to include in each group4 ,here is a note ,butler made about classification3 8,fighting about words is like fighting about accounts1 and all classification is like accounts4 ,sometimes it is easy to see which way the balance of convenience lies1 sometimes it is very hard to know whether an item should be carried to one account or to another40 ,except in the group headed 8,higgledy-,piggledy10 ,i have endeavoured to post each note to a suitable account1 but some of ,butler's leading ideas1 expressed in different forms1 will be found posted to more than one account1 and this kind of repetition is in accordance with his habit in conversation4 ,it would probably be correct to say that ,i have heard him speak the substance of every note many times in different contexts4 ,in seeking for the most characteristic context1 ,i have shifted and shifted the notes and considered and re-considered them under different aspects1 taking hints from the delicate chameleon changes of significance that came over them as they harmonised or discorded with their new surroundings4 ,presently ,i caught myself restoring notes to positions they had previously occupied instead of finding new places for them1 and the increasing frequency with which difficulties were solved by these restorations at last forced me to the conclusion1 which ,i accepted only with very great regret1 that my labours were at an end4 ,i do not expect every one to approve of the result4 ,if ,i had been trying to please every one1 ,i should have made only a very short and unrepresentative selection which ,mr4 ,fifield would have refused to publish4 ,i have tried to make suck a book as ,i believe would have pleased ,butler4 ,that is to say1 ,i have tried to please one who1 by reason of his intimate knowledge of the subject and of the difficulties1 would have looked with indulgence upon the many mistakes which it is now too late to correct1 even if knew how to correct them4 ,had it been possible for him to see what ,i have done1 he would have detected all my sins1 both of omission and of commission1 and ,i like to imagine that he would have used some such consoling words as these3 8,well1 never mind2 one cannot have everything2 and1 after all1 #8,le mieux est l'ennemi du bien4'0 ,here will be found much of what he used to say as he talked with one or two intimate friends in his own chambers or in mine at the close of the day1 or on a ,sunday walk in the country round ,london1 or as we wandered together through ,italy and ,sicily2 and ,i would it were possible to charge these pages with some echo of his voice and with some reflection of his manner4 ,but1 again2 one cannot have everything4 8,men's work we have10 quoth one1 8but we want them-- ,them palpable to touch and clear to view40 ,is it so nothing1 then1 to have the gem ,but we must cry to have the setting too8 ,in the ,new ,quarterly each note was headed with a reference to its place in the ,note-,books4 ,this has not been done here because1 on consideration1 it seemed useless1 and even irritating1 to keep on putting before the reader references which he could not verify4 ,i intend to give to the ,british ,museum a copy of this volume wherein each note will show where the material of which it is composed can be found2 thus1 if the original ,note-,books are also some day given to the ,museum1 any one sufficiently interested will be able to see exactly what ,i have done in selecting1 omitting1 editing1 condensing and classifying4 ,some items are included that are not actually in the ,note-,books2 the longest of these are the two ,new ,zealand articles 8,darwin among the ,machines0 and 8,lucubratio ,ebria0 as to which something is said in the ,prefatory ,note to 8,the ,germs of ,erewhon and of ,life and ,habit0 7pp4 #ci-db post74 ,in that ,prefatory ,note a ,dialogue on ,species by ,butler and an autograph letter from ,charles ,darwin are mentioned4 ,since the note was in type ,i have received from ,new ,zealand a copy of the ,weekly ,press of #aith ,june1 #aiab1 containing the ,dialogue again reprinted and a facsimile reproduction of ,darwin's letter4 ,i thank ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,triggs1 the present editor of the ,press1 ,christchurch1 ,new ,zealand1 also ,miss ,colborne-,veel and the members of the staff for their industry and perseverance in searching for and identifying ,butler's early contributions to the newspaper4 ,the other principal items not actually in the ,note-,books1 the letter to ,t4 ,w4 ,g4 ,butler 7pp4 #ec-e post71 8,a ,psalm of ,montreal0 7pp4 #chh-i post7 and 8,the ,righteous ,man0 7pp4 #cij-a post74 ,i suppose ,butler kept all these out of his notes because he considered that they had served their purpose2 but they have not hitherto appeared in a form now accessible to the general reader4 ,all the footnotes are mine and so are all those prefatory notes which are printed in italics and the explanatory remarks in square brackets which occur occasionally in the text4 ,i have also preserved1 in square brackets1 the date of a note when anything seemed to turn on it4 ,and ,i have made the index4 ,the ,biographical ,statement is founded on a skeleton ,diary which is in the ,note-,books4 ,it is intended to show1 among other things1 how intimately the great variety of subjects touched upon in the notes entered into and formed part of ,butler's working life4 ,it does not stop at the #ahth of ,june1 #aijb1 because1 as he says 7p4 #bc post71 8,death is not more the end of some than it is the beginning of others02 and1 again 7p4 #ac post71 for those who come to the true birth the life we live beyond the grave is our truest life4 ,the ,biographical ,statement has accordingly been carried on to the present time so as to include the principal events that have occurred during the opening period of the 8good average three-score years and ten of immortality0 which he modestly hoped he might inherit in the life of the world to come4 ,,henry ,,festing ,,jones4 ,mount ,eryx1 ,trapani1 ,sicily1 ,august1 #aiab4 ,contents ,,page ,biographical ,statement #a ,i4 ,lord1 ,what is ,man8 #i ,,ii4 ,elementary ,morality #bd ,,iii4 ,the ,germs of ,erewhon and of ,life and ,habit #ci ,,iv4 ,memory and ,design #ef ,v4 ,vibrations #ff ,,vi4 ,mind and ,matter #gd ,,vii4 ,on the ,making of ,music1 ,pictures and ,books #ic ,,viii4 ,handel and ,music #aaj ,,ix4 ,a ,painter's ,views on ,painting #ace ,x4 ,the ,position of a ,homo ,unius ,libri #aee ,,xi4 ,cash and ,credit #afh ,,xii4 ,the ,enfant ,terrible of ,literature #ahc ,,xiii4 ,unprofessional ,sermons #bjj ,,xiv4 ,higgledy-,piggledy #bae ,,xv4 ,titles and ,subjects #bbi ,,xvi4 ,written ,sketches #bcg ,,xvii4 ,material for a ,projected ,sequel to ,alps and #bei ,sanctuaries ,,xviii4 ,material for ,erewhon ,revisited #bhh ,,xix4 ,truth and ,convenience #big ,,xx4 ,first ,principles #cji ,,xxi4 ,rebelliousness #ccb ,,xxii4 ,reconciliation #cdf ,,xxiii4 ,death #cec ,,xxiv4 ,the ,life of the ,world to ,come #cfj ,,xxv4 ,poems #cgi ,biographical ,statement #ahce4 ,dec4 #d4 ,samuel ,butler born at ,langar ,rectory1 ,nottingham1 son of the ,rev4 ,thomas ,butler1 who was the son of ,dr4 ,samuel ,butler1 ,headmaster of ,shrewsbury ,school from #agih to #ahcf1 and afterwards ,bishop of ,lichfield4 #ahdc-d4 ,spent the winter in ,rome and ,naples with his family4 #ahdf4 ,went to school at ,allesley1 near ,coventry4 #ahdh4 ,went to school at ,shrewsbury under ,dr4 ,kennedy4 ,went to ,italy for the second time with his family4 ,first heard the music of ,handel4 #ahed4 ,entered at ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4 #aheh4 ,bracketed #abth in the first class of the ,classical ,tripos and took his degree4 ,went to ,london and began to prepare for ordination1 living among the poor and doing parish work3 this led to his doubting the efficacy of infant baptism and hence to his declining to take orders4 #ahei4 ,sailed for ,new ,zealand and started sheep-farming in ,canterbury ,province3 while in the colony he wrote much for the ,press of ,christchurch1 ,n4,z4 #ahfb4 ,dec4 #bj4 8,darwin on ,the ,origin of ,species4 ,a ,dialogue10 unsigned but written by ,butler1 appeared in the ,press and was followed by correspondence to which ,butler contributed4 #ahfc4 ,a ,first ,year in ,canterbury ,settlement3 made out of his letters home to his family together with two articles reprinted from the ,eagle 7the magazine of ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge73 ,,ms4 lost4 #ahfc4 8,darwin among the ,machines10 a letter signed 8,cellarius0 written by ,butler1 appeared in the ,press4 #ahfd4 ,sold out his sheep run and returned to ,england in company with ,charles ,paine ,pauli1 whose acquaintance he had made in the colony4 ,he brought back enough to enable him to live quietly1 settled for good at #ae ,clifford's ,inn1 ,london1 and began life as a painter1 studying at ,cary's1 ,heatherley's and the ,south ,kensington ,art ,schools and exhibiting pictures occasionally at the ,royal ,academy and other exhibitions3 while studying art he made the acquaintance of1 among others1 ,charles ,gogin1 ,william ,ballard and ,thomas ,william ,gale ,butler4 8,family ,prayers03 a small painting by ,butler4 #ahfe4 8,lucubratio ,ebria10 an article1 containing variations of the view in 8,darwin among the ,machines10 sent by ,butler from ,england1 appeared in the ,press4 ,the ,evidence for the ,resurrection of ,jesus ,christ as contained in the ,four ,evangelists critically examined3 a pamphlet of ,,viii#dh pp4 written in ,new ,zealand3 the conclusion arrived at is that the evidence is insufficient to support the belief that ,christ died and rose from the dead3 ,,ms4 lost1 probably used up in writing ,the ,fair ,haven4 #ahfi-gj4 ,was in ,italy for four months1 his health having broken down in consequence of over-work4 #ahgj or #ahga4 ,first meeting with ,miss ,eliza ,mary ,ann ,savage1 from whom he drew ,alethea in ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh4 #ahgb4 ,erewhon or ,over the ,range3 a ,work of ,satire and ,imagination3 ,,ms4 in the ,british ,museum4 #ahgc4 ,erewhon translated into ,dutch4 ,the ,fair ,haven3 an ironical work1 purporting to be 8in defence of the miraculous element in our ,lord's ministry upon earth1 both as against rationalistic impugners and certain orthodox defenders10 written under the pseudonym of ,john ,pickard ,owen with a memoir of the supposed author by his brother ,william ,bickersteth ,owen4 ,this book reproduces--the substance of his pamphlet on the resurrection3 ,,ms4 at ,christchurch1 ,new ,zealand4 #ahgd4 8,mr4 ,heatherley's ,holiday10 his most important oil painting1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition1 now in the ,national ,gallery of ,british ,art4 #ahgf4 ,having invested his money in various companies that failed1 one of which had its works in ,canada1 and having spent much time during the last few years in that country1 trying unsuccessfully to save part of his capital1 he now returned to ,london1 and during the next ten years experienced serious financial difficulties4 ,first meeting with ,henry ,festing ,jones4 #ahgg4 ,life and ,habit3 an ,essay after a ,completer ,view of ,evolution3 dedicated to ,charles ,paine ,pauli3 although dated #ahgh the book was published on ,butler's birthday1 #dth ,december1 #ahgg3 ,,ms4 at the ,schools1 ,shrewsbury4 #ahgh4 8,a ,psalm of ,montreal0 in the ,spectator3 ,there are probably many ,,mss4 of this poem in existence given by ,butler to friends3 one1 which he gave to ,h4 ,f4 ,jones1 is in the ,fitzwilliam ,museum1 ,cambridge4 ,a ,portrait of ,butler1 painted in this year by himself1 now at ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4 #ahgi4 ,evolution ,old and ,new3 ,a comparison of the theories of ,buffon1 ,dr4 ,erasmus ,darwin and ,lamarck with that of ,charles ,darwin3 ,,ms4 in the ,fitzwilliam ,museum1 ,cambridge4 ,a ,clergyman's ,doubts and ,god the ,known and ,god the ,unknown appeared in the ,examiner3 ,,ms4 lost4 ,erewhon translated into ,german4 #ahhj4 ,unconscious ,memory3 ,a comparison between the theory of ,dr4 ,ewald ,hering1 ,professor of ,physiology in the ,university of ,prague1 and the ,philosophy of the ,unconscious of ,dr4 ,edward von ,hartmann1 with translations from both these authors and preliminary chapters bearing upon ,life and ,habit1 ,evolution ,old and ,new1 and ,charles ,darwin's ,edition of ,dr4 ,krause's ,erasmus ,darwin4 ,a ,portrait of ,butler1 painted in this year by himself1 now at the ,schools1 ,shrewsbury4 ,a third portrait of ,butler1 painted by himself about this time1 is at ,christchurch1 ,new ,zealand4 #ahha4 ,a property at ,shrewsbury1 in which under his grandfather's will he had a reversionary interest contingent on his surviving his father1 was re-settled so as to make his reversion absolute3 he mortgaged this reversion and bought small property near ,london3 this temporarily alleviated his financial embarrassment but added to his work1 for he spent much time in the management of the houses1 learnt book-keeping by double-entry and kept elaborate accounts4 ,alps and ,sanctuaries of ,piedmont and the ,canton ,ticino illustrated by the author1 ,charles ,gogin and ,henry ,festing ,jones3 an account of his holiday travels with dissertations on most of the subjects that interested him3 ,,ms4 with ,h4 ,f4 ,jones4 #ahhb4 ,a new edition of ,evolution ,old and ,new1 with a short preface alluding to the recent death of ,charles ,darwin1 an appendix and an index4 #ahhc4 ,began to compose music as nearly as he could in the style of ,handel4 #ahhd4 ,selections from ,previous ,works with 8,a ,psalm of ,montreal0 and 8,remarks on ,g4 ,j4 ,romanes' ,mental ,evolution in ,animals40 #ahhe4 ,death of ,miss ,savage4 ,gavottes1 ,minuets1 ,fugues and other short pieces for the piano by ,samuel ,butler and ,henry ,festing ,jones3 ,,ms4 with ,h4 ,f4 ,jones4 #ahhf4 ,holbein's ,la ,danse3 a note on a drawing in the ,museum at ,basel4 ,stood1 unsuccessfully1 for the ,professorship of ,fine ,arts in the ,university of ,cambridge4 ,dec4 #bi4 ,death of his father and end of his financial embarrassments4 #ahhg4 ,engaged ,alfred ,emery ,cathie as clerk and general attendant4 ,luck or ,cunning as the main means of ,organic ,modification8 ,an attempt to throw additional light upon ,charles ,darwin's theory of ,natural ,selection4 ,was entertained at dinner by the ,municipio of ,varallo-,sesia on the ,sacro ,monte4 #ahhh4 ,took up photography4 #ahhh4 ,ex ,voto3 an account of the ,sacro ,monte or ,new ,jerusalem at ,varallo-,sesia1 with some notice of ,tabachetti's remaining work at ,crea and illustrations from photographs by the author3 ,,ms4 at ,varallo-,sesia4 ,narcissus3 a ,cantata in the ,handelian form1 words and music by ,samuel ,butler and ,henry ,festing ,jones3 ,,ms4 of the piano score in the ,british ,museum4 ,,ms4 of the orchestral score with ,h4 ,f4 ,jones4 ,in this and the two following years contributed some articles to the ,universal ,review1 most of which were republished after his death as ,essays on ,life1 ,art1 and ,science 7#aijd74 #ahij4 ,began to study counterpoint with ,william ,smith ,rockstro and continued to do so until ,rockstro's death in #ahie4 #ahib4 ,the ,humour of ,homer4 ,a ,lecture delivered at the ,working ,men's ,college1 ,great ,ormond ,street1 ,london1 ,january #cj1 #ahib1 reprinted with preface and additional matter from the ,eagle4 ,went to ,sicily1 the first of many visits1 to collect evidence in support of his theory identifying the ,scheria and ,ithaca of the ,odyssey with ,trapani and the neighbouring ,mount ,eryx4 #ahic4 8,l',origine ,siciliana dell' ,odissea40 ,extracted from the ,rassegna della ,letteratura ,siciliana4 8,on the ,trapanese ,origin of the ,odyssey0 7,translation74 #ahid4 ,ex ,voto translated into ,italian by ,cavaliere ,angelo ,rizzetti4 8,ancora sull' origine dell' ,odissea40 ,extracted from the ,rassegna della ,letteratura ,siciliana4 #ahie4 ,went to ,greece and the ,troad to make up his mind about the topography of the ,iliad4 #ahif4 ,the ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,samuel ,butler 7his grandfather7 in so far as they illustrate the scholastic1 religious and social life of ,england from #agij-ahdj3 ,,ms4 at the ,shrewsbury ,town ,library or ,museum4 ,his portrait painted by ,charles ,gogin1 now in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 #ahig4 ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey1 where and when she wrote1 who she was1 the use she made of the ,iliad and how the poem grew under her hands3 ,,ms4 at ,trapani4 #ahig4 ,death of ,charles ,paine ,pauli4 #ahih4 ,the ,iliad rendered into ,english prose3 ,,ms4 at ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4 #ahii4 ,shakespeare's ,sonnets reconsidered and in part rearranged1 with introductory chapters1 notes and a reprint of the original #afji edition3 ,,ms4 with ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild4 #aijj4 ,the ,odyssey rendered into ,english prose3 ,,ms4 at ,aci-,reale1 ,sicily4 #aija4 ,erewhon ,revisited twenty years later both by the ,original ,discoverer of the ,country and by his ,son3 this was a return not only to ,erewhon but also to the subject of the pamphlet on the resurrection4 ,,ms4 in the ,british ,museum4 #aijb4 ,june1 #ah4 ,death of ,samuel ,butler4 #aijb4 8,samuel ,butler10 an article by ,richard ,alexander ,streatfeild in the ,monthly ,review 7,september74 8,samuel ,butler10 an obituary notice by ,henry ,festing ,jones in the ,eagle 7,december74 #aijc4 ,samuel ,butler ,records and ,memorials1 a collection of obituary notices with a note by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild1 his literary executor1 printed for private circulation3 with reproduction of a photograph of ,butler taken at ,varallo in #ahhi4 ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh1 a novel1 written between #ahgb and #ahhe1 published by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild3 ,,ms4 with ,mr4 ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild4 #aijd4 ,seven ,sonnets and ,a ,psalm of ,montreal printed for private circulation4 ,essays on ,life1 ,art and ,science1 being reprints of his ,universal ,review articles1 together with two lectures4 ,ulysses1 an ,oratorio3 ,words and music by ,samuel ,butler and ,henry ,festing ,jones3 ,,ms4 of the piano score in the ,british ,museum1 ,,ms4 of the orchestral score with ,h4 ,f4 ,jones4 8,the ,author of ,erewhon10 an article by ,desmond ,mac,carthy in the ,independent ,review 7,september74 #aijd4 ,diary of a ,journey through ,north ,italy to ,sicily 7in the spring of #aijc1 undertaken for the purpose of leaving the ,,mss4 of three books by ,samuel ,butler at ,varallo-,sesia1 ,aci-,reale and ,trapani7 by ,henry ,festing ,jones1 with reproduction of ,gogin's portrait of ,butler4 ,printed for private circulation4 #aijg4 ,nov4 ,between this date and ,may1 #aiaj1 some ,extracts from ,the ,note-,books of ,samuel ,butler appeared in the ,new ,quarterly ,review under the editorship of ,desmond ,mac,carthy4 #aijh4 ,july #af4 ,the first ,erewhon dinner at ,pagani's ,restaurant1 ,great ,portland ,street2 #cb persons present3 the day was fixed by ,professor ,marcus ,hartog4 ,second ,edition of ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh4 #aiji4 ,god the ,known and ,god the ,unknown republished in book form from the ,examiner 7#ahgi7 by ,a4 ,c4 ,fifield1 with prefatory note by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild4 ,july #ae4 ,the second ,erewhon dinner at ,pagani's2 #ec present3 the day was fixed by ,mr4 ,george ,bernard ,shaw4 #aiaj4 ,feb4 #aj4 ,samuel ,butler ,author of ,erewhon1 a ,paper read before the ,british ,association of ,homopathy at #dc ,russell ,square1 ,w4,c41 by ,henry ,festing ,jones4 ,some of ,butler's music was performed by ,miss ,grainger ,kerr1 ,mr4 ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,a4 ,fuller ,maitland and ,mr4 ,h4 ,j4 ,t4 ,wood1 the ,secretary of the ,association4 ,june4 ,unconscious ,memory1 a new edition entirely reset with a note by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild and an introduction by ,professor ,marcus ,hartog1 ,m4,a41 ,d4,sc41 ,f4,l4,s41 ,f4,r4 ,h4,s41 ,professor of ,zoology in ,university ,college1 ,cork4 ,july #ad4 ,the third ,erewhon dinner at ,pagani's ,restaurant2 #eh present3 the day was fixed by the ,right ,honourable ,augustine ,birrell1 ,k4,c41 ,m4,p4 ,nov4 #af4 ,samuel ,butler ,author of ,erewhon4 ,a paper read before the ,historical ,society of ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge1 in the ,combination-room of the college1 by ,henry ,festing ,jones4 ,the ,master 7,mr4 ,r4 ,f4 ,scott71 who was also ,vice-,chancellor of the ,university1 was in the chair and a ,vote of ,thanks was proposed by ,professor ,bateson1 ,f4,r4,s4 #aiaj4 ,nov4 #bh4 ,life and ,habit1 a new edition with a preface by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild and author's addenda1 being three pages containing passages which ,butler had cut out of the original book or had intended to insert in a future edition4 #aiaa4 ,may #be4 ,the jubilee number of the ,press1 ,new ,zealand1 contained an account of ,butler's connection with the newspaper and reprinted 8,darwin among the ,machines0 and 8,lucubratio ,ebria40 ,july #ae4 ,the fourth ,erewhon dinner at ,pagani's ,restaurant2 #ge present3 the day was fixed by ,sir ,william ,phipson ,beale1 ,bart41 ,k4,c41 ,m4,p4 ,nov4 ,charles ,darwin and ,samuel ,butler3 ,a ,step towards ,reconciliation1 by ,henry ,festing ,jones4 ,a pamphlet giving the substance of a correspondence between ,mr4 ,francis ,darwin and the author and reproducing letters by ,charles ,darwin about the quarrel between himself and ,butler referred to in ,chapter ,,iv of ,unconscious ,memory4 ,evolution ,old and ,new1 a reprint of the second edition 7#ahhb7 with prefatory note by ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild4 #aiab4 ,june #a4 ,letter from ,henry ,festing ,jones in the ,press1 ,christchurch1 ,new ,zealand1 about ,butler's ,dialogue1 which had appeared originally in the ,press ,december #bj1 #ahfb1 and could not be found4 ,june #h4 8,darwin on the ,origin of ,species4 ,a ,dialogue 8discovered in consequence of the foregoing letter and reprinted in the ,press4 ,june #ae4 ,the ,press reprinted some of the correspondence1 etc4 which followed on the original appearance of the ,dialogue4 ,some of ,butler's water-colour drawings having been given to the ,british ,museum1 two were included in an exhibition held there during the summer4 ,july #ab4 ,the ,fifth ,erewhon ,dinner at ,pagani's ,restaurant2 #ij present2 the day was fixed by ,mr4 ,edmund ,gosse1 ,c4,b41 ,,ll4,d4 ,i ,lord1 ,what is ,man8 ,man i ,,we are like billiard balls in a game played by unskilful players1 continually being nearly sent into a pocket1 but hardly ever getting right into one1 except by a fluke4 ii ,we are like thistle-down blown about by the wind--up and down1 here and there--but not one in a thousand ever getting beyond seed-hood4 iii ,a man is a passing mood coming and going in the mind of his country2 he is the twitching of a nerve1 a smile1 a frown1 a thought of shame or honour1 as it may happen4 iv ,how loosely our thoughts must hang together when the whiff of a smell1 a band playing in the street1 a face seen in the fire1 or on the gnarled stem of a tree1 will lead them into such vagaries at a moment's warning4 v ,when ,i was a boy at school at ,shrewsbury1 old ,mrs4 ,brown used to keep a tray of spoiled tarts which she sold cheaper4 ,they most of them looked pretty right till you handled them4 ,we are all spoiled tarts4 vi ,he is a poor creature who does not believe himself to be better than the whole world else4 ,no matter how ill we may be1 or how low we may have fallen1 we would not change identity with any other person4 ,hence our self-conceit sustains and always must sustain us till death takes us and our conceit together so that we need no more sustaining4 vii ,man must always be a consuming fire or be consumed4 ,as for hell1 we are in a burning fiery furnace all our lives--for what is life but a process of combustion8 ,life i ,we have got into life by stealth and petitio principii1 by the free use of that contradiction in terms which we declare to be the most outrageous violation of our reason4 ,we have wriggled into it by holding that everything is both one and many1 both infinite in time and space and yet finite1 both like and unlike to the same thing1 both itself and not itself1 both free and yet inexorably fettered1 both every adjective in the dictionary and at the same time the flat contradiction of every one of them4 ii ,the beginning of life is the beginning of an illusion to the effect that there is such a thing as free will and that there is such another thing as necessity--the recognition of the fact that there is an 8,i can0 and an 8,i cannot10 an 8,i may0 and an 8,i must40 iii ,life is not so much a riddle to be read as a ,gordian knot that will get cut sooner or later4 iv ,life is the distribution of an error--or errors4 v ,murray 7the publisher7 said that my ,life of ,dr4 ,butler was an omnium gatherum4 ,yes1 but life is an omnium gatherum4 vi ,life is a superstition4 ,but superstitions are not without their value4 ,the snail's shell is a superstition1 slugs have no shells and thrive just as well4 ,but a snail without a shell would not be a slug unless it had also the slug's indifference to a shell4 vii ,life is one long process of getting tired4 viii ,my days run through me as water through a sieve4 ix ,life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises4 x ,life is eight parts cards and two parts play1 the unseen world is made manifest to us in the play4 xi ,lizards generally seem to have lost their tails by the time they reach middle life4 ,so have most men4 xii ,a sense of humour keen enough to show a man his own absurdities1 as well as those of other people1 will keep him from the commission of all sins1 or nearly all1 save those that are worth committing4 xiii ,life is like music1 it must be composed by ear1 feeling and instinct1 not by rule4 ,nevertheless one had better know the rules1 for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases--though not often4 xiv ,there are two great rules of life1 the one general and the other particular4 ,the first is that every one can1 in the end1 get what he wants if he only tries4 ,this is the general rule4 ,the particular rule is that every individual is1 more or less1 an exception to the general rule4 xv ,nature is essentially mean1 mediocre4 ,you can have schemes for raising the level of this mean1 but not for making every one two inches taller than his neighbour1 and this is what people really care about4 xvi ,all progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income4 ,the ,world i ,the world is a gambling-table so arranged that all who enter the casino must play and all must lose more or less heavily in the long run1 though they win occasionally by the way4 ii ,we play out our days as we play out cards1 taking them as they come1 not knowing what they will be1 hoping for a lucky card and sometimes getting one1 often getting just the wrong one4 iii ,the world may not be particularly wise--still1 we know of nothing wiser4 iv ,the world will always be governed by self-interest4 ,we should not try to stop this1 we should try to make the self-interest of cads a little more coincident with that of decent people4 ,the ,individual and the ,world ,there is an eternal antagonism of interest between the individual and the world at large4 ,the individual will not so much care how much he may suffer in this world provided he can live in men's good thoughts long after he has left it4 ,the world at large does not so much care how much suffering the individual may either endure or cause in this life1 provided he will take himself clean away out of men's thoughts1 whether for good or ill1 when he has left it4 ,my ,life i ,i imagine that life can give nothing much better or much worse than what ,i have myself experienced4 ,i should say ,i had proved pretty well the extremes of mental pleasure and pain2 and so ,i believe each in his own way does1 almost every man4 ii ,i have squandered my life as a schoolboy squanders a tip4 ,but then half1 or more than half the fun a schoolboy gets out of a tip consists in the mere fact of having something to squander4 ,squandering is in itself delightful1 and so ,i found it with my life in my younger days4 ,i do not squander it now1 but ,i am not sorry that ,i have squandered a good deal of it4 ,what a heap of rubbish there would have been if ,i had not6 ,had ,i not better set about squandering what is left of it8 ,the ,life we ,live in ,others ,a man should spend his life or1 rather1 does spend his life in being born4 ,his life is his birth throes4 ,but most men miscarry and never come to the true birth at all and some live but a very short time in a very little world and none are eternal4 ,still1 the life we live beyond the grave is our truest life1 and our happiest1 for we pass it in the profoundest sleep as though we were children in our cradles4 ,if we are wronged it hurts us not2 if we wrong others1 we do not suffer for it2 and when we die1 as even the ,handels and ,bellinis and ,shakespeares sooner or later do1 we die easily1 know neither fear nor pain and live anew in the lives of those who have been begotten of our work and who have for the time come up in our room4 ,an immortal like ,shakespeare knows nothing of his own immortality about which we are so keenly conscious4 ,as he knows nothing of it when it is in its highest vitality1 centuries1 it may be1 after his apparent death1 so it is best and happiest if during his bodily life he should think little or nothing about it and perhaps hardly suspect that he will live after his death at all4 ,and yet ,i do not know--,i could not keep myself going at all if ,i did not believe that ,i was likely to inherit a good average three-score years and ten of immortality4 ,there are very few workers who are not sustained by this belief1 or at least hope1 but it may well be doubted whether this is not a sign that they are not going to be immortal--and ,i am content 7or try to be7 to fare as my neighbours4 ,the ,world ,made to ,enjoy ,when we grumble about the vanity of all human things1 inasmuch as even the noblest works are not eternal but must become sooner or later as though they had never been1 we should remember that the world1 so far as we can see1 was made to enjoy rather than to last4 ,come-and-go pervades everything of which we have knowledge1 and though great things go more slowly1 they are built up of small ones and must fare as that which makes them4 ,are we to have our enjoyment of ,handel and ,shakespeare weakened because a day will come when there will be no more of either ,handel or ,shakespeare nor yet of ears to hear them8 ,is it not enough that they should stir such countless multitudes so profoundly and kindle such intense and affectionate admiration for so many ages as they have done and probably will continue to do8 ,the life of a great thing may be so long as practically to come to immortality even now1 but that is not the point4 ,the point is that if anything was aimed at at all when things began to shape or to be shaped1 it seems to have been a short life and a merry one1 with an extension of time in certain favoured cases1 rather than a permanency even of the very best and noblest4 ,and1 when one comes to think of it1 death and birth are so closely correlated that one could not destroy either without destroying the other at the same time4 ,it is extinction that makes creation possible4 ,if1 however1 any work is to have long life it is not enough that it should be good of its kind4 ,many ephemeral things are perfect in their way4 ,it must be of a durable kind as well4 ,living in ,others ,we had better live in others as much as we can if only because we thus live more in the race1 which ,god really does seem to care about a good deal1 and less in the individual1 to whom1 so far as ,i can see1 he is indifferent4 ,after we are dead it matters not to the life we have led in ourselves what people may say of us1 but it matters much to the life we lead in others and this should be our true life4 ,karma ,when ,i am inclined to complain about having worked so many years and taken nothing but debt1 though ,i feel the want of money so continually 7much more1 doubtless1 than ,i ought to feel it71 let me remember that ,i come in free1 gratis1 to the work of hundreds and thousands of better men than myself who often were much worse paid than ,i have been4 ,if a man's true self is his karma--the life which his work lives but which he knows very little about and by which he takes nothing--let him remember at least that he can enjoy the karma of others1 and this about squares the account--or rather far more than squares it4 #ahhc4 ,birth and ,death i ,they are functions one of the other and if you get rid of one you must get rid of the other also4 ,there is birth in death and death in birth4 ,we are always dying and being born again4 ii ,life is the gathering of waves to a head1 at death they break into a million fragments each one of which1 however1 is absorbed at once into the sea of life and helps to form a later generation which comes rolling on till it too breaks4 iii ,what happens to you when you die8 ,but what happens to you when you are born8 ,in the one case we are born and in the other we die1 but it is not possible to get much further4 iv ,we commonly know that we are going to die though we do not know that we are going to be born4 ,but are we sure this is so8 ,we may have had the most gloomy forebodings on this head and forgotten all about them4 ,at any rate we know no more about the very end of our lives than about the very beginning4 ,we come up unconsciously1 and go down unconsciously2 and we rarely see either birth or death4 ,we see people1 as consciousness1 between the two extremes4 ,reproduction ,its base must be looked for not in the desire of the parents to reproduce but in the discontent of the germs with their surroundings inside those parents1 and a desire on their part to have a separate maintenance4 #af #ahhj4 ,thinking almost ,identically ,the ova1 spermatozoa and embryos not only of all human races but of all things that live1 whether animal or vegetable1 think little1 but that little almost identically on every subject4 ,that 8almost0 is the little rift within the lute which by and by will give such different character to the music4 #ahhi4 ,is ,life ,worth ,living8 ,this is a question for an embryo1 not for a man4 #ahhc4 ,evacuations ,there is a resemblance1 greater or less1 between the pleasure we derive from all the evacuations4 ,i believe that in all cases the pleasure arises from rest--rest1 that is to say1 from the considerable1 though in most cases unconscious labour of retaining that which it is a relief to us to be rid of4 ,in ordinary cases the effort whereby we retain those things that we would get rid of is unperceived by the central government1 being1 ,i suppose1 departmentally made2 we--as distinguished from the subordinate personalities of which we are composed--know nothing about it1 though the subordinates in question doubtless do4 ,but when the desirability of removing is abnormally great1 we know about the effort of retaining perfectly well1 and the gradual increase in our perception of the effort suggests strongly that there has been effort all the time1 descending to conscious and great through unconscious and normal from unconscious and hardly any at all4 ,the relaxation of this effort is what causes the sense of refreshment that follows all healthy discharges4 ,all our limbs and sensual organs1 in fact our whole body and life1 are but an accretion round and a fostering of the spermatozoa4 ,they are the real 8,he40 ,a man's eyes1 ears1 tongue1 nose1 legs and arms are but so many organs and tools that minister to the protection1 education1 increased intelligence and multiplication of the spermatozoa2 so that our whole life is in reality a series of complex efforts in respect of these1 conscious or unconscious according to their comparative commonness4 ,they are the central fact in our existence1 the point towards which all effort is directed4 ,relaxation of effort here1 therefore1 is the most complete and comprehensive of all relaxations and1 as such1 the supreme gratification--the most complete rest we can have1 short of sleep and death4 ,man and ,his ,organism i ,man is but a perambulating tool-box and workshop1 or office1 fashioned for itself by a piece of very clever slime1 as the result of long experience2 and truth is but its own most enlarged1 general and enduring sense of the coming togetherness or convenience of the various conventional arrangements which1 for some reason or other1 it has been led to sanction4 ,hence we speak of man's body as his 8trunk40 ii ,the body is but a pair of pincers set over a bellows and a stewpan and the whole fixed upon stilts4 iii ,a man should see himself as a kind of tool-box2 this is simple enough2 the difficulty is that it is the tools themselves that make and work the tools4 ,the skill which now guides our organs and us in arts and inventions was at one time exercised upon the invention of these very organs themselves4 ,tentative bankruptcy acts afford good illustrations of the manner in which organisms have been developed4 ,the ligaments which bind the tendons of our feet or the valves of our blood vessels are the ingenious enterprises of individual cells who saw a want1 felt that they could supply it1 and have thus won themselves a position among the old aristocracy of the body politic4 ,the most incorporate tool--as an eye or a tooth or the fist1 when a blow is struck with it--has still something of the non-ego about it2 and in like manner such a tool as a locomotive engine1 apparently entirely separated from the body1 must still from time to time1 as it were1 kiss the soil of the human body and be handled1 and thus become incorporate with man1 if it is to remain in working order4 ,tools ,a tool is anything whatsoever which is used by an intelligent being for realising its object4 ,the idea of a desired end is inseparable from a tool4 ,the very essence of a tool is the being an instrument for the achievement of a purpose4 ,we say that a man is the tool of another1 meaning that he is being used for the furtherance of that other's ends1 and this constitutes him a machine in use4 ,therefore the word 8tool0 implies also the existence of a living1 intelligent being capable of desiring the end for which the tool is used1 for this is involved in the idea of a desired end4 ,and as few tools grow naturally fit for use 7for even a stick or a fuller's teasel must be cut from their places and modified to some extent before they can be called tools71 the word 8tool0 implies not only a purpose and a purposer1 but a purposer who can see in what manner his purpose can be achieved1 and who can contrive 7or find ready-made and fetch and employ7 the tool which shall achieve it4 ,strictly speaking1 nothing is a tool unless during actual use4 ,nevertheless1 if a thing has been made for the express purpose of being used as a tool it is commonly called a tool1 whether it is in actual use or no4 ,thus hammers1 chisels1 etc41 are called tools1 though lying idle in a tool-box4 ,what is meant is that1 though not actually being used as instruments at the present moment1 they bear the impress of their object1 and are so often in use that we may speak of them as though they always were so4 ,strictly1 a thing is a tool or not a tool just as it may happen to be in use or not4 ,thus a stone may be picked up and used to hammer a nail with1 but the stone is not a tool until picked up with an eye to use2 it is a tool as soon as this happens1 and1 if thrown away immediately the nail has been driven home1 the stone is a tool no longer4 ,we see1 therefore1 matter alternating between a toolish or organic state and an untoolish or inorganic4 ,where there is intention it is organic1 where there is no intention it is inorganic4 ,perhaps1 however1 the word 8tool0 should cover also the remains of a tool so long as there are manifest signs that the object was a tool once4 ,the simplest tool ,i can think of is a piece of gravel used for making a road4 ,nothing is done to it1 it owes its being a tool simply to the fact that it subserves a purpose4 ,a broken piece of granite used for macadamising a road is a more complex instrument1 about the toolishness of which no doubt can be entertained4 ,it will1 however1 ,i think1 be held that even a piece of gravel found in situ and left there untouched1 provided it is so left because it was deemed suitable for a road which was designed to pass over the spot1 would become a tool in virtue of the recognition of its utility1 while a similar piece of gravel a yard off on either side the proposed road would not be a tool4 ,the essence of a tool1 therefore1 lies in something outside the tool itself4 ,it is not in the head of the hammer1 nor in the handle1 nor in the combination of the two that the essence of mechanical characteristics exists1 but in the recognition of its utility and in the forces directed through it in virtue of this recognition4 ,this appears more plainly when we reflect that a very complex machine1 if intended for use by children whose aim is not serious1 ceases to rank in our minds as a tool1 and becomes a toy4 ,it is seriousness of aim and recognition of suitability for the achievement of that aim1 and not anything in the tool itself1 that makes the tool4 ,the goodness or badness1 again1 of a tool depends not upon anything within the tool as regarded without relation to the user1 but upon the ease or difficulty experienced by the person using it in comparison with what he or others of average capacity would experience if they had used a tool of a different kind4 ,thus the same tool may be good for one man and bad for another4 ,it seems to me that all tools resolve themselves into the hammer and the lever1 and that the lever is only an inverted hammer1 or the hammer only an inverted lever1 whichever one wills2 so that all the problems of mechanics are present to us in the simple stone which may be used as a hammer1 or in the stick that may be used as a lever1 as much as in the most complicated machine4 ,these are the primordial cells of mechanics4 ,and an organ is only another name for a tool4 ,organs and ,makeshifts ,i have gone out sketching and forgotten my water-dipper2 among my traps ,i always find something that will do1 for example1 the top of my tin case 7for holding pencils74 ,this is how organs come to change their uses and hence their forms1 or at any rate partly how4 ,joining and ,disjoining ,these are the essence of change4 ,one of the earliest notes ,i made1 when ,i began to make notes at all1 ,i found not long ago in an old book1 since destroyed1 which ,i had in ,new ,zealand4 ,it was to the effect that all things are either of the nature of a piece of string or a knife4 ,that is1 they are either for bringing and keeping things together1 or for sending and keeping them apart4 ,nevertheless each kind contains a little of its opposite and some1 as the railway train and the hedge1 combine many examples of both4 ,thus the train1 on the whole1 is used for bringing things together1 but it is also used for sending them apart1 and its divisions into classes are alike for separating and keeping together4 ,the hedge is also both for joining things 7as a flock of sheep7 and for disjoining 7as for keeping the sheep from getting into corn74 ,these are the more immediate ends4 ,the ulterior ends1 both of train and hedge1 so far as we are concerned1 and so far as anything can have an end1 are the bringing or helping to bring meat or dairy produce into contact with man's inside1 or wool on to his back1 or that he may go in comfort somewhere to converse with people and join his soul on to theirs1 or please himself by getting something to come within the range of his senses or imagination4 ,a piece of string is a thing that1 in the main1 makes for togetheriness2 whereas a knife is1 in the main1 a thing that makes for splitty-uppiness2 still1 there is an odour of togetheriness hanging about a knife also1 for it tends to bring potatoes into a man's stomach4 ,in high philosophy one should never look at a knife without considering it also as a piece of string1 nor at a piece of string without considering it also as a knife4 ,cotton ,factories ,surely the work done by the body is1 in one way1 more its true life than its limbs and organisation are4 ,which is the more true life of a great cotton factory--the bales of goods which it turns out for the world's wearing or the machinery whereby its ends are achieved8 ,the manufacture is only possible by reason of the machinery2 it is produced by this4 ,the machinery only exists in virtue of its being capable of producing the manufacture2 it is produced for this4 ,the machinery represents the work done by the factory that turned it out4 ,somehow or other when we think of a factory we think rather of the fabric and mechanism than of the work1 and so we think of a man's life and living body as constituting himself rather than of the work that the life and living body turn out4 ,the instinct being as strong as it is1 ,i suppose it sound1 but it seems as though the life should be held to be quite as much in the work itself as in the tools that produce it--and perhaps more4 ,our ,trivial ,bodies i ,though we think so much of our body1 it is in reality a small part of us4 ,before birth we get together our tools1 in life we use them1 and thus fashion our true life which consists not in our tools and tool-box but in the work we have done with our tools4 ,it is ,handel's work1 not the body with which he did the work1 that pulls us half over ,london4 ,there is not an action of a muscle in a horse's leg upon a winter's night as it drags a carriage to the ,albert ,hall but is in connection with1 and part outcome of1 the force generated when ,handel sat in his room at ,gopsall and wrote the ,messiah4 ,think of all the forces which that force has controlled1 and think1 also1 how small was the amount of molecular disturbance from which it proceeded4 ,it is as though we saw a conflagration which a spark had kindled4 ,this is the true ,handel1 who is a more living power among us one hundred and twenty-two years after his death than during the time he was amongst us in the body4 ii ,the whole life of some people is a kind of partial death--a long1 lingering death-bed1 so to speak1 of stagnation and nonentity on which death is but the seal1 or solemn signing1 as the abnegation of all further act and deed on the part of the signer4 ,death robs these people of even that little strength which they appeared to have and gives them nothing but repose4 ,on others1 again1 death confers a more living kind of life than they can ever possibly have enjoyed while to those about them they seemed to be alive4 ,look at ,shakespeare2 can he be properly said to have lived in anything like his real life till a hundred years or so after his death8 ,his physical life was but as a dawn preceding the sunrise of that life of the world to come which he was to enjoy hereafter4 ,true1 there was a little stir--a little abiding of shepherds in the fields1 keeping watch over their flocks by night--a little buzzing in knots of men waiting to be hired before the daybreak--a little stealthy movement as of a burglar or two here and there--an inchoation of life4 ,but the true life of the man was after death and not before it4 ,death is not more the end of some than it is the beginning of others4 ,so he that loses his soul may find it1 and he that finds may lose it4 ,,ii ,elementary ,morality ,the ,foundations of ,morality i ,these are like all other foundations2 if you dig too much about them the superstructure will come tumbling down4 ii ,the foundations which we would dig about and find are within us1 like the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 rather than without4 iii ,to attempt to get at the foundations is to try to recover consciousness about things that have passed into the unconscious stage2 it is pretty sure to disturb and derange those who try it on too much4 ,counsels of ,imperfection ,it is all very well for mischievous writers to maintain that we cannot serve ,god and ,mammon4 ,granted that it is not easy1 but nothing that is worth doing ever is easy4 ,easy or difficult1 possible or impossible1 not only has the thing got to be done1 but it is exactly in doing it that the whole duty of man consists4 ,and when the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness that he hath committed and doeth that which is neither quite lawful nor quite right1 he will generally be found to have gained in amiability what he has lost in holiness4 ,if there are two worlds at all 7and that there are ,i have no doubt7 it stands to reason that we ought to make the best of both of them1 and more particularly of the one with which we are most immediately concerned4 ,it is as immoral to be too good as to be too anything else4 ,the ,christian morality is just as immoral as any other4 ,it is at once very moral and very immoral4 ,how often do we not see children ruined through the virtues1 real or supposed1 of their parents8 ,truly he visiteth the virtues of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation4 ,the most that can be said for virtue is that there is a considerable balance in its favour1 and that it is a good deal better to be for it than against it2 but it lets people in very badly sometimes4 ,if you wish to understand virtue you must be sub-vicious2 for the really virtuous man1 who is fully under grace1 will be virtuous unconsciously and will know nothing about it4 ,unless a man is out-and-out virtuous he is sub-vicious4 ,virtue is1 as it were1 the repose of sleep or death4 ,vice is the awakening to the knowledge of good and evil--without which there is no life worthy of the name4 ,sleep is1 in a way1 a happier1 more peaceful state than waking and1 in a way1 death may be said to be better than life1 but it is in a very small way4 ,we feel such talk to be blasphemy against good life and1 whatever we may say in death's favour1 so long as we do not blow our brains out we show that we do not mean to be taken seriously4 ,to know good1 other than as a heavy sleeper1 we must know vice also4 ,there cannot1 as ,bacon said1 be a 8,hold fast that which is good0 without a 8,prove all things0 going before it4 ,there is no knowledge of good without a knowledge of evil also1 and this is why all nations have devils as well as gods1 and regard them with sneaking kindness4 ,god without the devil is dead1 being alone4 ,lucifer ,we call him at once the ,angel of ,light and the ,angel of ,darkness3 is this because we instinctively feel that no one can know much till he has sinned much--or because we feel that extremes meet1 or how8 ,the ,oracle in ,erewhon ,the answer given by the oracle was originally written concerning any vice--say drunkenness1 but it applies to many another--and ,i wrote not 8sins0 but 8knows03 #bf ,he who knows aught ,knows more than he ought2 ,but he who knows nought ,has much to be taught4 ,god's ,laws ,the true laws of ,god are the laws of our own well-being4 ,physical ,excellence ,the question whether such and such a course of conduct does or does not do physical harm is the safest test by which to try the question whether it is moral or no4 ,if it does no harm to the body we ought to be very chary of calling it immoral1 while if it tends towards physical excellence there should be no hesitation in calling it moral4 ,in the case of those who are not forced to over-work themselves--and there are many who work themselves to death from mere inability to restrain the passion for work1 which masters them as the craving for drink masters a drunkard--over-work in these cases is as immoral as over-eating or drinking4 ,this1 so far as the individual is concerned4 ,with regard to the body politic as a whole1 it is1 no doubt1 well that there should be some men and women so built that they cannot be stopped from working themselves to death1 just as it is unquestionably well that there should be some who cannot be stopped from drinking themselves to death1 if only that they may keep the horror of the habit well in evidence4 ,intellectual ,self-,indulgence ,intellectual over-indulgence is the most gratuitous and disgraceful form which excess can take1 nor is there any the consequences of which are more disastrous4 ,dodging ,fatigue ,when fatigued1 ,i find it rests me to write very slowly with attention to the formation of each letter4 ,i am often thus able to go on when ,i could not otherwise do so4 ,vice and ,virtue i ,virtue is something which it would be impossible to over-rate if it had not been over-rated4 ,the world can ill spare any vice which has obtained long and largely among civilised people4 ,such a vice must have some good along with its deformities4 ,the question 8,how1 if every one were to do so and so80 may be met with another 8,how1 if no one were to do it80 ,we are a body corporate as well as a collection of individuals4 ,as a matter of private policy ,i doubt whether the moderately vicious are more unhappy than the moderately virtuous2 8,very vicious0 is certainly less happy than 8,tolerably virtuous10 but this is about all4 ,what pass muster as the extremes of virtue probably make people quite as unhappy as extremes of vice do4 ,the truest virtue has ever inclined toward excess rather than asceticism2 that she should do this is reasonable as well as observable1 for virtue should be as nice a calculator of chances as other people and will make due allowance for the chance of not being found out4 ,virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise1 and tunes herself1 as it were1 a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing4 ,so the ,psalmist says1 8,if thou1 ,lord1 wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss3 ,o ,lord who may abide it80 and by this he admits that the highest conceivable form of virtue still leaves room for some compromise with vice4 ,so again ,shakespeare writes1 8,they say1 best men are moulded out of faults2 ,and1 for the most1 become much more the better ,for being a little bad40 ii ,the extremes of vice and virtue are alike detestable2 absolute virtue is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice is1 let alone the dullnesses of it and the pomposities of it4 iii ,god does not intend people1 and does not like people1 to be too good4 ,he likes them neither too good nor too bad1 but a little too bad is more venial with him than a little too good4 iv ,as there is less difference than we generally think between the happiness of men who seem to differ widely in fortune1 so is there also less between their moral natures2 the best are not so much better than the worst1 nor the worst so much below the best as we suppose2 and the bad are just as important an element in the general progress as the good1 or perhaps more so4 ,it is in strife that life lies1 and were there no opposing forces there would be neither moral nor immoral1 neither victory nor defeat4 v ,if virtue had everything her own way she would be as insufferable as dominant factions generally are4 ,it is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds4 vi ,virtue has never yet been adequately represented by any who have had any claim to be considered virtuous4 ,it is the sub-vicious who best understand virtue4 ,let the virtuous people stick to describing vice--which they can do well enough4 ,my ,virtuous ,life ,i have led a more virtuous life than ,i intended1 or thought ,i was leading4 ,when ,i was young ,i thought ,i was vicious3 now ,i know that ,i was not and that my unconscious knowledge was sounder than my conscious4 ,i regret some things that ,i have done1 but not many4 ,i regret that so many should think ,i did much which ,i never did1 and should know of what ,i did in so garbled and distorted a fashion as to have done me much mischief4 ,but if things were known as they actually happened1 ,i believe ,i should have less to be ashamed of than a good many of my neighbours--and less also to be proud of4 ,sin ,sin is like a mountain with two aspects according to whether it is viewed before or after it has been reached3 yet both aspects are real4 ,morality turns on whether the pleasure precedes or follows the pain4 ,thus1 it is immoral to get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking1 but if the headache came first1 and the drunkenness afterwards1 it would be moral to get drunk4 ,change and ,immorality ,every discovery and1 indeed1 every change of any sort is immoral1 as tending to unsettle men's minds1 and hence their custom and hence their morals1 which are the net residuum of their 8mores0 or customs4 ,wherefrom it should follow that there is nothing so absolutely moral as stagnation1 except for this that1 if perfect1 it would destroy all mores whatever4 ,so there must always be an immorality in morality and1 in like manner1 a morality in immorality4 ,for there will be an element of habitual and legitimate custom even in the most unhabitual and detestable things that can be done at all4 ,cannibalism ,morality is the custom of one's country and the current feeling of one's peers4 ,cannibalism is moral in a cannibal country4 ,abnormal ,developments ,if a man can get no other food it is more natural for him to kill another man and eat him than to starve4 ,our horror is rather at the circumstances that make it natural for the man to do this than at the man himself4 ,so with other things the desire for which is inherited through countless ancestors1 it is more natural for men to obtain the nearest thing they can to these1 even by the most abnormal means if the ordinary channels are closed1 than to forego them altogether4 ,the abnormal growth should be regarded as disease but1 nevertheless1 as showing more health and vigour than no growth at all would do4 ,i said this in ,life and ,habit 7ch4 iii4 p4 #eb7 when ,i wrote 8it is more righteous in a man that he should eat strange food and that his cheek so much as lank not1 than that he should starve if the strange food be at his command40 #cj ,young ,people ,with regard to sexual matters1 the best opinion of our best medical men1 the practice of those nations which have proved most vigorous and comely1 the evils that have followed this or that1 the good that has attended upon the other should be ascertained by men who1 being neither moral nor immoral and not caring two straws what the conclusion arrived at might be1 should desire only to get hold of the best available information4 ,the result should be written down with some fulness and put before the young of both sexes as soon as they are old enough to understand such matters at all4 ,there should be no mystery or reserve4 ,none but the corrupt will wish to corrupt facts2 honest people will accept them eagerly1 whatever they may prove to be1 and will convey them to others as accurately as they can4 ,on what pretext therefore can it be well that knowledge should be withheld from the universal gaze upon a matter of such universal interest8 ,it cannot be pretended that there is nothing to be known on these matters beyond what unaided boys and girls can be left without risk to find out for themselves4 ,not one in a hundred who remembers his own boyhood will say this4 ,how1 then1 are they excusable who have the care of young people and yet leave a matter of such vital importance so almost absolutely to take care of itself1 although they well know how common error is1 how easy to fall into and how disastrous in its effects both upon the individual and the race8 ,next to sexual matters there are none upon which there is such complete reserve between parents and children as on those connected with money4 ,the father keeps his affairs as closely as he can to himself and is most jealous of letting his children into a knowledge of how he manages his money4 ,his children are like monks in a monastery as regards money and he calls this training them up with the strictest regard to principle4 ,nevertheless he thinks himself ill-used if his son1 on entering life1 falls a victim to designing persons whose knowledge of how money is made and lost is greater than his own4 ,the ,family i ,i believe that more unhappiness comes from this source than from any other--,i mean from the attempt to prolong family connection unduly and to make people hang together artificially who would never naturally do so4 ,the mischief among the lower classes is not so great1 but among the middle and upper classes it is killing a large number daily4 ,and the old people do not really like it much better than the young4 ii ,on my way down to ,shrewsbury some time since ,i read the ,bishop of ,carlisle's ,walks in the ,regions of ,science and ,faith1 #ca then just published1 and found the following on p4 #abi in the essay which is entitled 8,man's ,place in ,nature40 ,after saying that young sparrows or robins soon lose sight of their fellow-nestlings and leave off caring for them1 the bishop continues3-- 8,whereas #8children of one family' are constantly found joined together by a love which only grows with years1 and they part for their posts of duty in the world with the hope of having joyful meetings from time to time1 and of meeting in a higher world when their life on earth is finished40 ,i am sure my great-grandfather did not look forward to meeting his father in heaven--his father had cut him out of his will2 nor can ,i credit my grandfather with any great longing to rejoin my great-grandfather--a worthy man enough1 but one with whom nothing ever prospered4 ,i am certain my father1 after he was #dj1 did not wish to see my grandfather any more--indeed1 long before reaching that age he had decided that ,dr4 ,butler's life should not be written1 though ,r4 ,w4 ,evans would have been only too glad to write it4 ,speaking for myself1 ,i have no wish to see my father again1 and ,i think it likely that the ,bishop of ,carlisle would not be more eager to see his than ,i mine4 ,unconscious ,humour 8,writing to the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,watson in #ahef1 ,charles ,dickens says3 #8,i have always observed within my experience that the men who have left home very young have1 many long years afterwards1 had the tenderest regard for it4 ,that's a pleasant thing to think of as one of the wise adjustments of this life of ours4'0 #cb;a ,homer's ,odyssey ,from the description of the meeting between ,ulysses and ,telemachus it is plain that ,homer considered it quite as dreadful for relations who had long been separated to come together again as for them to separate in the first instance4 ,and this is about true4 #cb;b ,melchisedec ,he was a really happy man4 ,he was without father1 without mother and without descent4 ,he was an incarnate bachelor4 ,he was a born orphan4 ,bacon for ,breakfast ,now #ahic when ,i am abroad1 being older and taking less exercise1 ,i do not want any breakfast beyond coffee and bread and butter1 but when this note was written #ahhj ,i liked a modest rasher of bacon in addition1 and used to notice the jealous indignation with which heads of families who enjoyed the privilege of ,cephas and the brethren of our ,lord regarded it4 ,there were they with three or four elderly unmarried daughters as well as old mamma--how could they afford bacon8 ,and there was ,i1 a selfish bachelor--4 ,the appetising1 savoury smell of my rasher seemed to drive them mad4 ,i used to feel very uncomfortable1 very small and quite aware how low it was of me to have bacon for breakfast and no daughters instead of daughters and no bacon4 ,but when ,i consulted the oracles of heaven about it1 ,i was always told to stick to my bacon and not to make a fool of myself4 ,i despised myself but have not withered under my own contempt so completely as ,i ought to have done4 ,god and ,man ,to love ,god is to have good health1 good looks1 good sense1 experience1 a kindly nature and a fair balance of cash in hand4 8,we know that all things work together for good to them that love ,god40 ,to be loved by ,god is the same as to love ,him4 ,we love ,him because ,he first loved us4 ,the ,homeric ,deity and the ,pall ,mall ,gazette ,a writer in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette 7,i think in #ahgd or #ahge1 and in the autumn months1 but ,i cannot now remember7 summed up ,homer's conception of a god as that of a 8superlatively strong1 amorous1 beautiful1 brave and cunning man40 ,this is pretty much what a good working god ought to be1 but he should also be kind and have a strong sense of humour1 together with a contempt for the vices of meanness and for the meannesses of virtue4 ,after saying what ,i have quoted above the writer in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette goes on1 8,an impartial critic can judge for himself how far1 if at all1 this is elevated above the level of mere fetish worship40 ,perhaps it is that ,i am not an impartial critic1 but1 if ,i am allowed to be so1 ,i should say that the elevation above mere fetish worship was very considerable4 ,good ,breeding the ,summum ,bonum ,when people ask what faith we would substitute for that which we would destroy1 we answer that we destroy no faith and need substitute none4 ,we hold the glory of ,god to be the summum bonum1 and so do ,christians generally4 ,it is on the question of what is the glory of ,god that we join issue4 ,we say it varies with the varying phases of ,god as made manifest in his works1 but that1 so far as we are ourselves concerned1 the glory of ,god is best advanced by advancing that of man4 ,if asked what is the glory of man we answer 8,good breeding0--using the words in their double sense and meaning both the continuance of the race and that grace of manner which the words are more commonly taken to signify4 ,the double sense of the words is all the more significant for the unconsciousness with which it is passed over4 ,advice to the ,young ,you will sometimes find your elders laying their heads together and saying what a bad thing it is for young men to come into a little money--that those always do best who have no expectancy1 and the like4 ,they will then quote some drivel from one of the ,kingsleys about the deadening effect an income of #cjj a year will have upon a man4 ,avoid any one whom you may hear talk in this way4 ,the fault lies not with the legacy 7which would certainly be better if there were more of it7 but with those who have so mismanaged our education that we go in even greater danger of losing the money than other people are4 ,religion ,is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other8 ,if so1 this should be enough4 ,i find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all1 but are ready to like the best men of all religions4 ,heaven and ,hell ,heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women4 ,hell is the work of prigs1 pedants and professional truth-tellers4 ,the world is an attempt to make the best of both4 ,priggishness ,the essence of priggishness is setting up to be better than one's neighbour4 ,better may mean more virtuous1 more clever1 more agreeable or what not4 ,the worst of it is that one cannot do anything outside eating one's dinner or taking a walk without setting up to know more than one's neighbours4 ,it was this that made me say in ,life and ,habit close of ch4 ii4 that ,i was among the damned in that ,i wrote at all4 ,so ,i am2 and ,i am often very sorry that ,i was never able to reach those more saintly classes who do not set up as instructors of other people4 ,but one must take one's lot4 ,lohengrin ,he was a prig4 ,in the bedroom scene with ,elsa he should have said that her question put him rather up a tree but that1 as she wanted to know who he was1 he would tell her and would let the ,holy ,grail slide4 ,swells ,people ask complainingly what swells have done1 or do1 for society that they should be able to live without working4 ,the good swell is the creature towards which all nature has been groaning and travailing together until now4 ,he is an ideal4 ,he shows what may be done in the way of good breeding1 health1 looks1 temper and fortune4 ,he realises men's dreams of themselves1 at any rate vicariously4 ,he preaches the gospel of grace4 ,the world is like a spoilt child1 it has this good thing given it at great expense and then says it is useless6 ,science and ,religion ,these are reconciled in amiable and sensible people but nowhere else4 ,gentleman ,if we are asked what is the most essential characteristic that underlies this word1 the word itself will guide us to gentleness1 to absence of such things as brow-beating1 overbearing manners and fuss1 and generally to consideration for other people4 ,the ,finest ,men ,i suppose an ,italian peasant or a ,breton1 ,norman or ,english fisherman1 is about the best thing nature does in the way of men--the richer and the poorer being alike mistakes4 ,on being a ,swell all ,round ,i have never in my life succeeded in being this4 ,sometimes ,i get a new suit and am tidy for a while in part1 meanwhile the hat1 tie1 boots1 gloves and underclothing all clamour for attention and1 before ,i have got them well in hand1 the new suit has lost its freshness4 ,still1 if ever ,i do get any money1 ,i will try and make myself really spruce all round till ,i find out1 as ,i probably shall in about a week1 that if ,i give my clothes an inch they will take an ell4 #ahhj4 ,money is the last enemy that shall never be subdued4 ,while there is flesh there is money--or the want of money2 but money is always on the brain so long as there is a brain in reasonable order4 ,a ,luxurious ,death ,death in anything like luxury is one of the most expensive things a man can indulge himself in4 ,it costs a lot of money to die comfortably1 unless one goes off pretty quickly4 ,money1 ,health and ,reputation ,money1 if it live at all1 that is to say if it be reproductive and put out at any interest1 however low1 is mortal and doomed to be lost one day1 though it may go on living through many generations of one single family if it be taken care of4 ,no man is absolutely safe4 ,it may be said to any man1 8,thou fool1 this night thy money shall be required of thee40 ,and reputation is like money3 it may be required of us without warning4 ,the little unsuspected evil on which we trip may swell up in a moment and prove to be the huge1 ,janus-like mountain of unpardonable sin4 ,and his health may be required of any fool1 any night or any day4 ,a man will feel loss of money more keenly than loss of bodily health1 so long as he can keep his money4 ,take his money away and deprive him of the means of earning any more1 and his health will soon break up2 but leave him his money and1 even though his health breaks up and he dies1 he does not mind it so much as we think4 ,money losses are the worst1 loss of health is next worst and loss of reputation comes in a bad third4 ,all other things are amusements provided money1 health and good name are untouched4 ,solicitors ,a man must not think he can save himself the trouble of being a sensible man and a gentleman by going to his solicitor1 any more than he can get himself a sound constitution by going to his doctor2 but a solicitor can do more to keep a tolerably well-meaning fool straight than a doctor can do for an invalid4 ,money is to the solicitor what souls are to the parson or life to the physician4 ,he is our money-doctor4 ,doctors ,going to your doctor is having such a row with your cells that you refer them to your solicitor4 ,sometimes you1 as it were1 strike against them and stop their food1 when they go on strike against yourself4 ,sometimes you file a bill in ,chancery against them and go to bed4 ,priests ,we may find an argument in favour of priests if we consider whether man is capable of doing for himself in respect of his moral and spiritual welfare 7than which nothing can be more difficult and intricate7 what it is so clearly better for him to leave to professional advisers in the case of his money and his body which are comparatively simple and unimportant4 ,,iii ,the ,germs of ,erewhon and of ,life and ,habit ,prefatory ,note ,,the ,origin of ,species was published in the autumn of #ahei1 and ,butler arrived in ,new ,zealand about the same time and read the book soon afterwards4 ,in #ahhj he wrote in ,unconscious ,memory 7close of ,chapter #a73 8,as a member of the general public1 at that time residing eighteen miles from the nearest human habitation1 and three days' journey on horseback from a bookseller's shop1 ,i became one of ,mr4 ,darwin's many enthusiastic admirers1 and wrote a philosophic dialogue 7the most offensive form1 except poetry and books of travel into supposed unknown countries1 that even literature can assume7 upon the ,origin of ,species4 ,this production appeared in the ,press1 ,canterbury1 ,new ,zealand1 in #ahfa or #ahfb1 but ,i have long lost the only copy ,i had40 ,the ,press was founded by ,james ,edward ,fitz,gerald1 the first ,superintendent of the ,province of ,canterbury4 ,butler was an intimate friend of ,fitz,gerald1 was closely associated with the newspaper and frequently wrote for it4 ,the first number appeared #beth ,may1 #ahfa1 and on #beth ,may1 #aiaa1 the ,press celebrated its jubilee with a number which contained particulars of its early life1 of its editors1 and of ,butler2 it also contained reprints of two of ,butler's contributions1 viz4 ,darwin among the ,machines1 which originally appeared in its columns #ac ,june1 #ahfc1 and ,lucubratio ,ebria1 which originally appeared #bi ,july1 #ahfe4 ,the ,dialogue was not reprinted because1 although the editor knew of its existence and searched for it1 he could not find it4 ,at my request1 after the appearance of the jubilee number1 a further search was made1 but the ,dialogue was not found and ,i gave it up for lost4 ,in ,march1 #aiab1 ,mr4 ,r4 ,a4 ,streatfeild pointed out to me that ,mr4 ,tregaskis1 in ,holborn1 was advertising for sale an autograph letter by ,charles ,darwin sending to an unknown editor a ,dialogue on ,species from a ,new ,zealand newspaper1 described in the letter as being 8remarkable from its spirit and from giving so clear and accurate a view of ,mr4 ,d4's theory40 ,having no doubt that this referred to ,butler's lost contribution to the ,press1 ,i bought the autograph letter and sent it to ,new ,zealand1 where it now is in the ,canterbury ,museum1 ,christchurch4 ,with it ,i sent a letter to the editor of the ,press1 giving all further information in my possession about the ,dialogue4 ,this letter1 which appeared #a ,june1 #aiab1 together with the presentation of ,darwin's autograph1 stimulated further search1 and in the issue for #bjth ,december1 #ahfb1 the ,dialogue was found by ,miss ,colborne-,veel1 whose father was editor of the paper at the time ,butler was writing for it4 ,the ,press reprinted the ,dialogue #hth ,june1 #aiab4 ,when the ,dialogue first appeared it excited a great deal of discussion in the colony and1 to quote ,butler's words in a letter to ,darwin 7#ahfe71 8called forth a contemptuous rejoinder from 7,i believe7 the ,bishop of ,wellington40 ,this rejoinder was an article headed 8,barrel-,organs10 the idea being that there was nothing new in ,darwin's book1 it was only a grinding out of old tunes with which we were all familiar4 ,butler alludes to this controversy in a note made on a letter from ,darwin which he gave to the ,british ,museum4 8,i remember answering an attack 7in the ,press1 ,new ,zealand7 on me by ,bishop ,abraham1 of ,wellington1 as though ,i were someone else1 and1 to keep up the deception1 attacking myself also4 ,but it was all very young and silly40 ,the bishop's article and ,butler's reply1 which was a letter signed ,a4 ,m4 and some of the resulting correspondence were reprinted in the ,press1 #aeth ,june1 #aiab4 ,at first ,i thought of including here the ,dialogue1 and perhaps the letter signed ,a4 ,m4 ,they are interesting as showing that ,butler was among the earliest to study closely the ,origin of ,species1 and also as showing the state of his mind before he began to think for himself1 before he wrote ,darwin among the ,machines from which so much followed2 but they can hardly be properly considered as germs of ,erewhon and ,life and ,habit4 ,they rather show the preparation of the soil in which those germs sprouted and grew2 and1 remembering his last remark on the subject that 8it was all very young and silly10 ,i decided to omit them4 ,the ,dialogue is no longer lost1 and the numbers of the ,press containing it and the correspondence that ensued can be seen in the ,british ,museum4 ,butler's other two contributions to the ,press mentioned above do contain the germs of the machine chapters in ,erewhon1 and led him to the theory put forward in ,life and ,habit4 ,in #aija he wrote in the preface to the new and revised edition of ,erewhon3 8,the first part of ,erewhon written was an article headed ,darwin among the ,machines and signed #8,cellarius4' ,it was written in the ,upper ,rangitata district of ,canterbury ,province 7as it then was7 of ,new ,zealand1 and appeared at ,christchurch in the ,press newspaper1 ,june #ac1 #ahfc4 ,a copy of this article is indexed under my books in the ,british ,museum catalogue40 ,the article is in the form of a letter1 and the copy spoken of by ,butler1 as indexed under his name in the ,british ,museum1 being defective1 the reprint which appeared in the jubilee number of the ,press has been used in completing the version which follows4 ,further on in the preface to the #aija edition of ,erewhon he writes3 8,a second article on the same subject as the one just referred to appeared in the ,press shortly after the first1 but ,i have no copy4 ,it treated machines from a different point of view and was the basis of pp4 #bgj-bgd of the present edition of ,erewhon4 ,this view ultimately led me to the theory ,i put forward in ,life and ,habit1 published in ,november1 #ahgg4 #da ,i have put a bare outline of this theory 7which ,i believe to be quite sound7 into the mouth of an ,erewhonian professor in ,chapter ,,xxvii of this book40 ,this second article was ,lucubratio ,ebria1 and was sent by ,butler from ,england to the editor of the ,press in #ahfe1 with a letter from which this is an extract3 8,i send you an article which you can give to ,fitz,gerald or not1 just as you think it most expedient--for him4 ,is not the subject worked out1 and are not the ,canterbury people tired of ,darwinism8 ,for me--is it an article to my credit8 ,i do not send it to ,fitz,gerald because ,i am sure he would put it into the paper4 4 4 4 ,i know the undue lenience which he lends to my performances1 and believe you to be the sterner critic of the two4 ,that there are some good things in it you will1 ,i think1 feel2 but ,i am almost sure that considering usque ad nauseam etc41 you will think it had better not appear4 4 4 4 ,i think you and he will like that sentence3 #8,there was a moral government of the world before man came into it4' ,there is hardly a sentence in it written without deliberation2 but ,i need hardly say that it was done upon tea1 not upon whiskey 4 4 4 8,p4,s4 ,if you are in any doubt about the expediency of the article take it to ,m4 8,p4,p4,s4 ,perhaps better take it to him anyhow40 ,the preface to the #aija edition of ,erewhon contains some further particulars of the genesis of that work1 and there are still further particulars in ,unconscious ,memory1 ,chapter ,,ii1 8,how ,i wrote ,life and ,habit40 ,the first tentative sketch of the ,life and ,habit theory occurs in the letter to ,thomas ,william ,gale ,butler which is given post4 ,this ,t4 ,w4 ,g4 ,butler was not related to ,butler1 they met first as art-students at ,heatherley's1 and ,butler used to speak of him as the most brilliant man he had ever known4 ,he died many years ago4 ,he was the writer of the 8letter from a friend now in ,new ,zealand10 from which a quotation is given in ,life and ,habit1 ,chapter ,v 7pp4 #hc1 #hd74 ,butler kept a copy of his letter to ,t4 ,w4 ,g4 ,butler1 but it was imperfectly pressed2 he afterwards supplied some of the missing words from memory1 and gave it to the ,british ,museum4 ,darwin among the ,machines ,to the ,editor of the ,press1 ,christchurch1 ,new ,zealand--#ac ,june1 #ahfc4 ,sir--,there are few things of which the present generation is more justly proud than of the wonderful improvements which are daily taking place in all sorts of mechanical appliances4 ,and indeed it is matter for great congratulation on many grounds4 ,it is unnecessary to mention these here1 for they are sufficiently obvious2 our present business lies with considerations which may somewhat tend to humble our pride and to make us think seriously of the future prospects of the human race4 ,if we revert to the earliest primordial types of mechanical life1 to the lever1 the wedge1 the inclined plane1 the screw and the pulley1 or 7for analogy would lead us one step further7 to that one primordial type from which all the mechanical kingdom has been developed1 we mean to the lever itself1 and if we then examine the machinery of the ,great ,eastern1 we find ourselves almost awestruck at the vast development of the mechanical world1 at the gigantic strides with which it has advanced in comparison with the slow progress of the animal and vegetable kingdom4 ,we shall find it impossible to refrain from asking ourselves what the end of this mighty movement is to be4 ,in what direction is it tending8 ,what will be its upshot8 ,to give a few imperfect hints towards a solution of these questions is the object of the present letter4 ,we have used the words 8mechanical life10 8the mechanical kingdom10 8the mechanical world0 and so forth1 and we have done so advisedly1 for as the vegetable kingdom was slowly developed from the mineral1 and as1 in like manner1 the animal supervened upon the vegetable1 so now1 in these last few ages1 an entirely new kingdom has sprung up of which we as yet have only seen what will one day be considered the antediluvian prototypes of the race4 ,we regret deeply that our knowledge both of natural history and of machinery is too small to enable us to undertake the gigantic task of classifying machines into the genera and sub-genera1 species1 varieties and sub-varieties1 and so forth1 of tracing the connecting links between machines of widely different characters1 of pointing out how subservience to the use of man has played that part among machines which natural selection has performed in the animal and vegetable kingdom1 of pointing out rudimentary organs see note which exist in some few machines1 feebly developed and perfectly useless1 yet serving to mark descent from some ancestral type which has either perished or been modified into some new phase of mechanical existence4 ,we can only point out this field for investigation2 it must be followed by others whose education and talents have been of a much higher order than any which we can lay claim to4 ,some few hints we have determined to venture upon1 though we do so with the profoundest diffidence4 ,firstly we would remark that as some of the lowest of the vertebrata attained a far greater size than has descended to their more highly organised living representatives1 so a diminution in the size of machines has often attended their development and progress4 ,take the watch for instance4 ,examine the beautiful structure of the little animal1 watch the intelligent play of the minute members which compose it2 yet this little creature is but a development of the cumbrous clocks of the thirteenth century--it is no deterioration from them4 ,the day may come when clocks1 which certainly at the present day are not diminishing in bulk1 may be entirely superseded by the universal use of watches1 in which case clocks will become extinct like the earlier saurians1 while the watch 7whose tendency has for some years been rather to decrease in size than the contrary7 will remain the only existing type of an extinct race4 ,the views of machinery which we are thus feebly indicating will suggest the solution of one of the greatest and most mysterious questions of the day4 ,we refer to the question3 ,what sort of creature man's next successor in the supremacy of the earth is likely to be4 ,we have often heard this debated2 but it appears to us that we are ourselves creating our own successors2 we are daily adding to the beauty and delicacy of their physical organisation2 we are daily giving them greater power and supplying1 by all sorts of ingenious contrivances1 that self-regulating1 self-acting power which will be to them what intellect has been to the human race4 ,in the course of ages we shall find ourselves the inferior race4 ,inferior in power1 inferior in that moral quality of self-control1 we shall look up to them as the acme of all that the best and wisest man can ever dare to aim at4 ,no evil passions1 no jealousy1 no avarice1 no impure desires will disturb the serene might of those glorious creatures4 ,sin1 shame and sorrow will have no place among them4 ,their minds will be in a state of perpetual calm1 the contentment of a spirit that knows no wants1 is disturbed by no regrets4 ,ambition will never torture them4 ,ingratitude will never cause them the uneasiness of a moment4 ,the guilty conscience1 the hope deferred1 the pains of exile1 the insolence of office and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes--these will be entirely unknown to them4 ,if they want 8feeding0 7by the use of which very word we betray our recognition of them as living organism7 they will be attended by patient slaves whose business and interest it will be to see that they shall want for nothing4 ,if they are out of order they will be promptly attended to by physicians who are thoroughly acquainted with their constitutions2 if they die1 for even these glorious animals will not be exempt from that necessary and universal consummation1 they will immediately enter into a new phase of existence1 for what machine dies entirely in every part at one and the same instant8 ,we take it that when the state of things shall have arrived which we have been above attempting to describe1 man will have become to the machine what the horse and the dog are to man4 ,he will continue to exist1 nay even to improve1 and will be probably better off in his state of domestication under the beneficent rule of the machines than he is in his present wild state4 ,we treat our horses1 dogs1 cattle and sheep1 on the whole1 with great kindness1 we give them whatever experience teaches us to be best for them1 and there can be no doubt that our use of meat has added to the happiness of the lower animals far more than it has detracted from it2 in like manner it is reasonable to suppose that the machines will treat us kindly1 for their existence is as dependent upon ours as ours is upon the lower animals4 ,they cannot kill us and eat us as we do sheep1 they will not only require our services in the parturition of their young 7which branch of their economy will remain always in our hands7 but also in feeding them1 in setting them right if they are sick1 and burying their dead or working up their corpses into new machines4 ,it is obvious that if all the animals in ,great ,britain save man alone were to die1 and if at the same time all intercourse with foreign countries were by some sudden catastrophe to be rendered perfectly impossible1 it is obvious that under such circumstances the loss of human life would be something fearful to contemplate--in like manner1 were mankind to cease1 the machines would be as badly off or even worse4 ,the fact is that our interests are inseparable from theirs1 and theirs from ours4 ,each race is dependent upon the other for innumerable benefits1 and1 until the reproductive organs of the machines have been developed in a manner which we are hardly yet able to conceive1 they are entirely dependent upon man for even the continuance of their species4 ,it is true that these organs may be ultimately developed1 inasmuch as man's interest lies in that direction2 there is nothing which our infatuated race would desire more than to see a fertile union between two steam engines2 it is true that machinery is even at this present time employed in begetting machinery1 in becoming the parent of machines often after its own kind1 but the days of flirtation1 courtship and matrimony appear to be very remote and indeed can hardly be realised by our feeble and imperfect imagination4 ,day by day1 however1 the machines are gaining ground upon us2 day by day we are becoming more subservient to them2 more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them1 more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life4 ,the upshot is simply a question of time1 but that the time will come when the machines will hold the real supremacy over the world and its inhabitants is what no person of a truly philosophic mind can for a moment question4 ,our opinion is that war to the death should be instantly proclaimed against them4 ,every machine of every sort should be destroyed by the well-wisher of his species4 ,let there be no exceptions made1 no quarter shown2 let us at once go back to the primeval condition of the race4 ,if it be urged that this is impossible under the present condition of human affairs1 this at once proves that the mischief is already done1 that our servitude has commenced in good earnest1 that we have raised a race of beings whom it is beyond our power to destroy and that we are not only enslaved but are absolutely acquiescent in our bondage4 ,for the present we shall leave this subject which we present gratis to the members of the ,philosophical ,society4 ,should they consent to avail themselves of the vast field which we have pointed out1 we shall endeavour to labour in it ourselves at some future and indefinite period4 ,i am1 ,sir1 c41 ,,cellarius4 ,,note4--,we were asked by a learned brother philosopher who saw this article in ,,ms4 what we meant by alluding to rudimentary organs in machines4 ,could we1 he asked1 give any example of such organs8 ,we pointed to the little protuberance at the bottom of the bowl of our tobacco pipe4 ,this organ was originally designed for the same purpose as the rim at the bottom of a tea-cup1 which is but another form of the same function4 ,its purpose was to keep the heat of the pipe from marking the table on which it rested4 ,originally1 as we have seen in very early tobacco pipes1 this protuberance was of a very different shape to what it is now4 ,it was broad at the bottom and flat1 so that while the pipe was being smoked1 the bowl might rest upon the table4 ,use and disuse have here come into play and served to reduce the function to its present rudimentary condition4 ,that these rudimentary organs are rarer in machinery than in animal life is owing to the more prompt action of the human selection as compared with the slower but even surer operation of natural selection4 ,man may make mistakes2 in the long run nature never does so4 ,we have only given an imperfect example1 but the intelligent reader will supply himself with illustrations4 ,lucubratio ,ebria ,from the ,press1 #bi ,july1 #ahfe ,there is a period in the evening1 or more generally towards the still small hours of the morning1 in which we so far unbend as to take a single glass of hot whisky and water4 ,we will neither defend the practice nor excuse it4 ,we state it as a fact which must be borne in mind by the readers of this article2 for we know not how1 whether it be the inspiration of the drink1 or the relief from the harassing work with which the day has been occupied1 or from whatever other cause1 yet we are certainly liable about this time to such a prophetic influence as we seldom else experience4 ,we are rapt in a dream such as we ourselves know to be a dream1 and which1 like other dreams1 we can hardly embody in a distinct utterance4 ,we know that what we see is but a sort of intellectual ,siamese twins1 of which one is substance and the other shadow1 but we cannot set either free without killing both4 ,we are unable to rudely tear away the veil of phantasy in which the truth is shrouded1 so we present the reader with a draped figure1 and his own judgment must discriminate between the clothes and the body4 ,a truth's prosperity is like a jest's1 it lies in the ear of him that hears it4 ,some may see our lucubration as we saw it2 and others may see nothing but a drunken dream1 or the nightmare of a distempered imagination4 ,to ourselves it as the speaking with unknown tongues to the early ,corinthians2 we cannot fully understand our own speech1 and we fear lest there be not a sufficient number of interpreters present to make our utterance edify4 ,but there6 7,go on straight to the body of the article47 ,the limbs of the lower animals have never been modified by any act of deliberation and forethought on their own part4 ,recent researches have thrown absolutely no light upon the origin of life--upon the initial force which introduced a sense of identity1 and a deliberate faculty into the world2 but they do certainly appear to show very clearly that each species of the animal and vegetable kingdom has been moulded into its present shape by chances and changes of many millions of years1 by chances and changes over which the creature modified had no control whatever1 and concerning whose aim it was alike unconscious and indifferent1 by forces which seem insensate to the pain which they inflict1 but by whose inexorably beneficent cruelty the brave and strong keep coming to the fore1 while the weak and bad drop behind and perish4 ,there was a moral government of this world before man came near it--a moral government suited to the capacities of the governed1 and which1 unperceived by them1 has laid fast the foundations of courage1 endurance and cunning4 ,it laid them so fast that they became more and more hereditary4 ,horace says well1 fortes creantur fortibus et bonis good men beget good children2 the rule held even in the geological period2 good ichthyosauri begat good ichthyosauri1 and would to our discomfort have gone on doing so to the present time1 had not better creatures been begetting better things than ichthyosauri1 or famine1 or fire1 or convulsion put an end to them4 ,good apes begat good apes1 and at last when human intelligence stole like a late spring upon the mimicry of our semi-simious ancestry1 the creature learnt how he could1 of his own forethought1 add extra-corporaneous limbs to the members of his body and become not only a vertebrate mammal1 but a vertebrate machinate mammal into the bargain4 ,it was a wise monkey that first learned to carry a stick and a useful monkey that mimicked him4 ,for the race of man has learned to walk uprightly much as a child learns the same thing4 ,at first he crawls on all fours1 then he clambers1 laying hold of whatever he can2 and lastly he stands upright alone and walks1 but for a long time with an unsteady step4 ,so when the human race was in its gorilla-hood it generally carried a stick2 from carrying a stick for many million years it became accustomed and modified to an upright position4 ,the stick wherewith it had learned to walk would now serve it to beat its younger brothers and then it found out its service as a lever4 ,man would thus learn that the limbs of his body were not the only limbs that he could command4 ,his body was already the most versatile in existence1 but he could render it more versatile still4 ,with the improvement in his body his mind improved also4 ,he learnt to perceive the moral government under which he held the feudal tenure of his life--perceiving it he symbolised it1 and to this day our poets and prophets still strive to symbolise it more and more completely4 ,the mind grew because the body grew--more things were perceived--more things were handled1 and being handled became familiar4 ,but this came about chiefly because there was a hand to handle with2 without the hand there would be no handling2 and no method of holding and examining is comparable to the human hand4 ,the tail of an opossum is a prehensile thing1 but it is too far from his eyes--the elephant's trunk is better1 and it is probably to their trunks that the elephants owe their sagacity4 ,it is here that the bee in spite of her wings has failed4 ,she has a high civilisation but it is one whose equilibrium appears to have been already attained2 the appearance is a false one1 for the bee changes1 though more slowly than man can watch her2 but the reason of the very gradual nature of the change is chiefly because the physical organisation of the insect changes1 but slowly also4 ,she is poorly off for hands1 and has never fairly grasped the notion of tacking on other limbs to the limbs of her own body and so1 being short-lived to boot1 she remains from century to century to human eyes in statu quo4 ,her body never becomes machinate1 whereas this new phase of organism1 which has been introduced with man into the mundane economy1 has made him a very quicksand for the foundation of an unchanging civilisation2 certain fundamental principles will always remain1 but every century the change in man's physical status1 as compared with the elements around him1 is greater and greater2 he is a shifting basis on which no equilibrium of habit and civilisation can be established2 were it not for this constant change in our physical powers1 which our mechanical limbs have brought about1 man would have long since apparently attained his limit of possibility2 he would be a creature of as much fixity as the ants and bees--he would still have advanced but no faster than other animals advance4 ,if there were a race of men without any mechanical appliances we should see this clearly4 ,there are none1 nor have there been1 so far as we can tell1 for millions and millions of years4 ,the lowest ,australian savage carries weapons for the fight or the chase1 and has his cooking and drinking utensils at home2 a race without these things would be completely ferae naturae and not men at all4 ,we are unable to point to any example of a race absolutely devoid of extra-corporaneous limbs1 but we can see among the ,chinese that with the failure to invent new limbs1 a civilisation becomes as much fixed as that of the ants2 and among savage tribes we observe that few implements involve a state of things scarcely human at all4 ,such tribes only advance pari passu with the creatures upon which they feed4 ,it is a mistake1 then1 to take the view adopted by a previous correspondent of this paper2 to consider the machines as identities1 to animalise them1 and to anticipate their final triumph over mankind4 ,they are to be regarded as the mode of development by which human organism is most especially advancing1 and every fresh invention is to be considered as an additional member of the resources of the human body4 ,herein lies the fundamental difference between man and his inferiors4 ,as regards his flesh and blood1 his senses1 appetites1 and affections1 the difference is one of degree rather than of kind1 but in the deliberate invention of such unity of limbs as is exemplified by the railway train--that seven-leagued foot which five hundred may own at once--he stands quite alone4 ,in confirmation of the views concerning mechanism which we have been advocating above1 it must be remembered that men are not merely the children of their parents1 but they are begotten of the institutions of the state of the mechanical sciences under which they are born and bred4 ,these things have made us what we are4 ,we are children of the plough1 the spade1 and the ship2 we are children of the extended liberty and knowledge which the printing press has diffused4 ,our ancestors added these things to their previously existing members2 the new limbs were preserved by natural selection1 and incorporated into human society2 they descended with modifications1 and hence proceeds the difference between our ancestors and ourselves4 ,by the institutions and state of science under which a man is born it is determined whether he shall have the limbs of an ,australian savage or those of a nineteenth century ,englishman4 ,the former is supplemented with little save a rug and a javelin2 the latter varies his physique with the changes of the season1 with age1 and with advancing or decreasing wealth4 ,if it is wet he is furnished with an organ which is called an umbrella and which seems designed for the purpose of protecting either his clothes or his lungs from the injurious effects of rain4 ,his watch is of more importance to him than a good deal of his hair1 at any rate than of his whiskers2 besides this he carries a knife1 and generally a pencil case4 ,his memory goes in a pocket book4 ,he grows more complex as he becomes older and he will then be seen with a pair of spectacles1 perhaps also with false teeth and a wig2 but1 if he be a really well-developed specimen of the race1 he will be furnished with a large box upon wheels1 two horses1 and a coachman4 ,let the reader ponder over these last remarks1 and he will see that the principal varieties and sub-varieties of the human race are not now to be looked for among the negroes1 the ,circassians1 the ,malays1 or the ,american aborigines1 but among the rich and the poor4 ,the difference in physical organisation between these two species of man is far greater than that between the so-called types of humanity4 ,the rich man can go from here to ,england whenever he feels so inclined4 ,the legs of the other are by an invisible fatality prevented from carrying him beyond certain narrow limits4 ,neither rich nor poor as yet see the philosophy of the thing1 or admit that he who can tack a portion of one of the ,p4 ,o4 boats on to his identity is a much more highly organised being than one who cannot4 ,yet the fact is patent enough1 if we once think it over1 from the mere consideration of the respect with which we so often treat those who are richer than ourselves4 ,we observe men for the most part 7admitting however some few abnormal exceptions7 to be deeply impressed by the superior organisation of those who have money4 ,it is wrong to attribute this respect to any unworthy motive1 for the feeling is strictly legitimate and springs from some of the very highest impulses of our nature4 ,it is the same sort of affectionate reverence which a dog feels for man1 and is not infrequently manifested in a similar manner4 ,we admit that these last sentences are open to question1 and we should hardly like to commit ourselves irrecoverably to the sentiments they express2 but we will say this much for certain1 namely1 that the rich man is the true hundred-handed ,gyges of the poets4 ,he alone possesses the full complement of limbs who stands at the summit of opulence1 and we may assert with strictly scientific accuracy that the ,rothschilds are the most astonishing organisms that the world has ever yet seen4 ,for to the nerves or tissues1 or whatever it be that answers to the helm of a rich man's desires1 there is a whole army of limbs seen and unseen attachable3 he may be reckoned by his horse-power--by the number of foot-pounds which he has money enough to set in motion4 ,who1 then1 will deny that a man whose will represents the motive power of a thousand horses is a being very different from the one who is equivalent but to the power of a single one8 ,henceforward1 then1 instead of saying that a man is hard up1 let us say that his organisation is at a low ebb1 or1 if we wish him well1 let us hope that he will grow plenty of limbs4 ,it must be remembered that we are dealing with physical organisations only4 ,we do not say that the thousand-horse man is better than a one-horse man1 we only say that he is more highly organised1 and should be recognised as being so by the scientific leaders of the period4 ,a man's will1 truth1 endurance are part of him also1 and may1 as in the case of the late ,mr4 ,cobden1 have in themselves a power equivalent to all the horse-power which they can influence2 but were we to go into this part of the question we should never have done1 and we are compelled reluctantly to leave our dream in its present fragmentary condition4 ,letter to ,thomas ,william ,gale ,butler ,february #ahth1 #ahgf4 ,,my ,,dear ,,namesake 4 4 4 ,my present literary business is a little essay some #be or #cj pp4 long1 which is still all in the rough and ,i don't know how it will shape1 but the gist of it is somewhat as follows3-- #a4 ,actions which we have acquired with difficulty and now perform almost unconsciously--as in playing a difficult piece of music1 reading1 talking1 walking and the multitude of actions which escape our notice inside other actions1 etc4--all this worked out with some detail1 say1 four or five pages4 ,general deduction that we never do anything in this unconscious or semi-conscious manner unless we know how to do it exceedingly well and have had long practice4 ,also that consciousness is a vanishing quantity and that as soon as we know a thing really well we become unconscious in respect of it--consciousness being of attention and attention of uncertainty--and hence the paradox comes clear1 that as long as we know that we know a thing 7or do an action knowingly7 we do not know it 7or do the action with thorough knowledge of our business7 and that we only know it when we do not know of our knowledge4 #b4 ,whatever we do in this way is all one and the same in kind--the difference being only in degree4 ,playing almost8 unconsciously--writing1 more unconsciously 7as to each letter7--reading1 very unconsciously--talking1 still more unconsciously 7it is almost impossible for us to notice the action of our tongue in every letter7--walking1 much the same--breathing1 still to a certain extent within our own control--heart's beating1 perceivable but beyond our control--digestion1 unperceivable and beyond our control1 digestion being the oldest of the 4 4 4 habits4 #c4 ,a baby1 therefore1 has known how to grow itself in the womb and has only done it because it wanted to1 on a balance of considerations1 in the same way as a man who goes into the ,city to buy ,great ,northern ,a ,shares 4 4 4 ,it is only unconscious of these operations because it has done them a very large number of times already4 ,a man may do a thing by a fluke once1 but to say that a foetus can perform so difficult an operation as the growth of a pair of eyes out of pure protoplasm without knowing how to do it1 and without ever having done it before1 is to contradict all human experience4 ,ipso facto that it does it1 it knows how to do it1 and ipso facto that it knows how to do it1 it has done it before4 ,its unconsciousness 7or speedy loss of memory7 is simply the result of over-knowledge1 not of under-knowledge4 ,it knows so well and has done it so often that its power of self-analysis is gone4 ,if it knew what it was doing1 or was conscious of its own act in oxidising its blood after birth1 ,i should suspect that it had not done it so often before2 as it is ,i am confident that it must have done it more often--much more often--than any act which we perform consciously during our whole lives4 #d4 ,when1 then1 did it do it8 ,clearly when last it was an impregnate ovum or some still lower form of life which resulted in that impregnate ovum4 #e4 ,how is it1 then1 that it has not gained perceptible experience8 ,simply because a single repetition makes little or no difference2 but go back #bj1jjj repetitions and you will find that it has gained in experience and modified its performance very materially4 #f4 ,but how about the identity8 ,what is identity8 ,identity of matter8 ,surely no4 ,there is no identity of matter between me as ,i now am1 and me as an impregnate ovum4 ,continuity of existence8 ,then there is identity between me as an impregnate ovum and my father and mother as impregnate ova4 ,drop out my father's and mother's lives between the dates of their being impregnate ova and the moment when ,i became an impregnate ovum4 ,see the ova only and consider the second ovum as the first two ova's means not of reproducing themselves but of continuing themselves--repeating themselves--the intermediate lives being nothing but1 as it were1 a long potato shoot from one eye to the place where it will grow its next tuber4 #g4 ,given a single creature capable of reproducing itself and it must go on reproducing itself for ever1 for it would not reproduce itself1 unless it reproduced a creature that was going to reproduce itself1 and so on ad infinitum4 ,then comes ,descent with ,modification4 ,similarity tempered with dissimilarity1 and dissimilarity tempered with similarity--a contradiction in terms1 like almost everything else that is true or useful or indeed intelligible at all4 ,in each case of what we call descent1 it is still the first reproducing creature identically the same--doing what it has done before--only with such modifications as the struggle for existence and natural selection have induced4 ,no matter how highly it has been developed1 it can never be other than the primordial cell and must always begin as the primordial cell and repeat its last performance most nearly1 but also1 more or less1 all its previous performances4 ,a begets ,a which is ,a with the additional experience of a dash4 ,a begets ,a which is ,a with the additional experiences of ,a and ,a2 and so on to ,an but you can never eliminate the ,a4 #h4 ,let ,an stand for a man4 ,he begins as the primordial cell--being verily nothing but the primordial cell which goes on splitting itself up for ever1 but gaining continually in experience4 ,put him in the same position as he was in before and he will do as he did before4 ,first he will do his tadpoles by rote1 so to speak1 on his head1 from long practice2 then he does his fish trick2 then he grows arms and legs1 all unconsciously from the inveteracy of the habit1 till he comes to doing his man1 and this lesson he has not yet learnt so thoroughly4 ,some part of it1 as the breathing and oxidisation business1 he is well up to1 inasmuch as they form part of previous roles1 but the teeth and hair1 the upright position1 the power of speech1 though all tolerably familiar1 give him more trouble--for he is very stupid--a regular dunce in fact4 ,then comes his newer and more complex environment1 and this puzzles him--arrests his attention--whereon consciousness springs into existence1 as a spark from a horse's hoof4 ,to be continued--,i see it will have to be more than #cj pp4 ,it is still foggy in parts1 but ,i must clear it a little4 ,it will go on to show that we are all one animal and that death 7which was at first voluntary1 and has only come to be disliked because those who did not dislike it committed suicide too easily7 and reproduction are only phases of the ordinary waste and repair which goes on in our bodies daily4 ,always very truly yours1 ,s4 ,,butler4 ,,iv ,memory and ,design ,clergymen and ,chickens ,extract from a lecture ,on ,memory as a ,key to the ,phenomena of ,heredity delivered by ,butler at the ,working ,men's ,college1 ,great ,ormond ,street1 on ,saturday1 #bnd ,december1 #ahhb4 ,,why1 let me ask1 should a hen lay an egg which egg can become a chicken in about three weeks and a full-grown hen in less than a twelvemonth1 while a clergyman and his wife lay no eggs but give birth to a baby which will take three-and-twenty years before it can become another clergyman8 ,why should not chickens be born and clergymen be laid and hatched8 ,or why1 at any rate1 should not the clergyman be born full grown and in ,holy ,orders1 not to say already beneficed8 ,the present arrangement is not convenient1 it is not cheap1 it is not free from danger1 it is not only not perfect but is so much the reverse that we could hardly find words to express our sense of its awkwardness if we could look upon it with new eyes1 or as the cuckoo perhaps observes it4 ,the explanation usually given is that it is a law of nature that children should be born as they are1 but this is like the parched pea which ,st4 ,anthony set before the devil when he came to supper with him and of which the devil said that it was good as far as it went4 ,we want more2 we want to know with what familiar set of facts we are to connect the one in question which1 though in our midst1 at present dwells apart as a mysterious stranger of whose belongings1 reason for coming amongst us1 antecedents1 and so forth1 we believe ourselves to be ignorant1 though we know him by sight and name and have a fair idea what sort of man he is to deal with4 ,we say it is a phenomenon of heredity that chickens should be laid as eggs in the first instance and clergymen born as babies1 but1 beyond the fact that we know heredity extremely well to look at and to do business with1 we say that we know nothing about it4 ,i have for some years maintained this to be a mistake and have urged1 in company with ,professor ,hering1 of ,prague1 and others1 that the connection between memory and heredity is so close that there is no reason for regarding the two as generically different1 though for convenience sake it may be well to specify them by different names4 ,if ,i can persuade you that this is so1 ,i believe ,i shall be able to make you understand why it is that chickens are hatched as eggs and clergymen born as babies4 ,when ,i say ,i can make you understand why this is so1 ,i only mean that ,i can answer the first 8why0 that any one is likely to ask about it1 and perhaps a 8why0 or two behind this4 ,then ,i must stop4 ,this is all that is ever meant by those who say they can tell us why a thing is so and so4 ,no one professes to be able to reach back to the last 8why0 that any one can ask1 and to answer it4 ,fortunately for philosophers1 people generally become fatigued after they have heard the answer to two or three 8whys0 and are glad enough to let the matter drop4 ,if1 however1 any one will insist on pushing question behind question long enough1 he will compel us to admit that we come to the end of our knowledge which is based ultimately upon ignorance4 ,to get knowledge out of ignorance seems almost as hopeless a task as to get something out of any number of nothings1 but this in practice is what we have to do and the less fuss we make over it the better4 ,when1 therefore1 we say that we know 8why0 a thing is so and so1 we mean that we know its immediate antecedents and connections1 and find them familiar to us4 ,i say that the immediate antecedent of1 and the phenomenon most closely connected with1 heredity is memory4 ,i do not profess to show why anything can remember at all1 ,i only maintain that whereas1 to borrow an illustration from mathematics1 life was formerly an equation of1 say1 #ajj unknown quantities1 it is now one of only1 inasmuch as memory and heredity have been shown to be one and the same thing4 ,memory i ,memory is a kind of way 7or weight--whichever it should be7 that the mind has got upon it1 in virtue of which the sensation excited endures a little longer than the cause which excited it4 ,there is thus induced a state of things in which mental images1 and even physical sensations 7if there can be such a thing as a physical sensation7 exist by virtue of association1 though the conditions which originally called them into existence no longer continue4 ,this is as the echo continuing to reverberate after the sound has ceased4 ii ,to be is to think and to be thinkable4 ,to live is to continue thinking and to remember having done so4 ,memory is to mind as viscosity is to protoplasm1 it gives a tenacity to thought--a kind of pied terre from which it can1 and without which it could not1 advance4 ,thought1 in fact1 and memory seem inseparable2 no thought1 no memory2 and no memory1 no thought4 ,and1 as conscious thought and conscious memory are functions one of another1 so also are unconscious thought and unconscious memory4 ,memory is1 as it were1 the body of thought1 and it is through memory that body and mind are linked together in rhythm or vibration2 for body is such as it is by reason of the characteristics of the vibrations that are going on in it1 and memory is only due to the fact that the vibrations are of such characteristics as to catch on to and be caught on to by other vibrations that flow into them from without--no catch1 no memory4 ,antitheses ,memory and forgetfulness are as life and death to one another4 ,to live is to remember and to remember is to live4 ,to die is to forget and to forget is to die4 ,everything is so much involved in and is so much a process of its opposite that1 as it is almost fair to call death a process of life and life a process of death1 so it is to call memory a process of forgetting and forgetting a process of remembering4 ,there is never either absolute memory or absolute forgetfulness1 absolute life or absolute death4 ,so with light and darkness1 heat and cold1 you never can get either all the light1 or all the heat1 out of anything4 ,so with ,god and the devil2 so with everything4 ,everything is like a door swinging backwards and forwards4 ,everything has a little of that from which it is most remote and to which it is most opposed and these antitheses serve to explain one another4 ,unconscious ,memory ,a man at the ,century ,club was falling foul of me the other night for my use of the word 8memory40 ,there was no such thing1 he said1 as 8unconscious memory0--memory was always conscious1 and so forth4 ,my business is--and ,i think it can be easily done--to show that they cannot beat me off my unconscious memory without my being able to beat them off their conscious memory2 that they cannot deny the legitimacy of my maintaining the phenomena of heredity to be phenomena of memory without my being able to deny the legitimacy of their maintaining the recollection of what they had for dinner yesterday to be a phenomenon of memory4 ,my theory of the unconscious does not lead to universal unconsciousness1 but only to pigeon-holing and putting by4 ,we shall always get new things to worry about4 ,if ,i thought that by learning more and more ,i should ever arrive at the knowledge of absolute truth1 ,i would leave off studying4 ,but ,i believe ,i am pretty safe4 ,reproduction and ,memory ,there is the reproduction of an idea which has been produced once already1 and there is the reproduction of a living form which has been produced once already4 ,the first reproduction is certainly an effort of memory4 ,it should not therefore surprise us if the second reproduction should turn out to be an effort of memory also4 ,indeed all forms of reproduction that we can follow are based directly or indirectly upon memory4 ,it is only the one great act of reproduction that we cannot follow which we disconnect from memory4 ,personal ,identity ,we are so far identical with our ancestors and our contemporaries that it is very rarely we can see anything that they do not see4 ,it is not unjust that the sins of the fathers should be visited upon the children1 for the children committed the sins when in the persons of their fathers2 they ate the sour grapes before they were born3 true1 they have forgotten the pleasure now1 but so has a man with a sick headache forgotten the pleasure of getting drunk the night before4 ,sensations ,our sensations are only distinguishable because we feel them in different places and at different times4 ,if we feel them at very nearly the same time and place we cannot distinguish them4 ,cobwebs in the ,dark ,if you walk at night and your face comes up against a spider's web woven across the road1 what a shock that thin line gives you6 ,you fristle through every nerve of your body4 ,shocks and ,memory ,memory is our sense that we are being shocked now as we were shocked then4 ,shocks ,given matter conscious in one part of itself of a shock in another part 7i4e4 knowing in what part of itself it is shocked7 retaining a memory of each shock for a little while afterwards1 able to feel whether two shocks are simultaneous or in succession1 and able to know whether it has been shocked much or little--given also that association does not stick to the letter of its bond--and the rest will follow4 ,design i ,there is often connection but no design1 as when ,i stamp my foot with design and shake something down without design1 or as when a man runs up against another in the street and knocks him down without intending it4 ,this is undesign within design4 ,fancied insults are felt by people who see design in a connection where they should see little connection1 and no design4 ,connection with design is sometimes hard to distinguish from connection without design2 as when a man treads on another's corns1 it is not always easy to say whether he has done so accidentally or on purpose4 ,men have been fond in all ages of ascribing connection where there is none4 ,thus astrology has been believed in4 ,before last ,christmas ,i said ,i had neglected the feasts of the ,church too much1 and that ,i should probably be more prosperous if ,i paid more attention to them3 so ,i hung up three pieces of ivy in my rooms on ,xmas ,eve4 ,a few months afterwards ,i got the entail cut off my reversion1 but ,i should hardly think there was much connection between the two things4 ,nevertheless ,i shall hang some holly up this year4 ii ,it seems also designed1 ab extra 7though who can say whether this is so871 that no one should know anything whatever about the ultimate1 or even deeper springs of growth and action4 ,if not designed the result is arrived at as effectually as though it were so4 ,accident1 ,design and ,memory ,it is right to say either that heredity and memory are one and the same thing1 or that heredity is a mode of memory1 or that heredity is due to memory1 if it is thereby intended that animals can only grow in virtue of being able to recollect4 ,memory and heredity are the means of preserving experiences1 of building them together1 of uniting a mass of often confused detail into homogeneous and consistent mind and matter1 but they do not originate4 ,the increment in each generation1 at the moment of its being an increment1 has nothing to do with memory or heredity1 it is due to the chances and changes of this mortal state4 ,design comes in at the moment that a living being either feels a want and forecasts for its gratification1 or utilises some waif or stray of accident on the principle1 which underlies all development1 that enough is a little more than what one has4 ,it is the business of memory and heredity to conserve and to transmit from one generation to another that which has been furnished by design1 or by accident designedly turned to account4 ,it is therefore not right to say1 as some have supposed me to mean1 that we can do nothing which we do not remember to have done before4 ,we can do nothing very difficult or complicated which we have not done before1 unless as by a tour de force1 once in a way1 under exceptionally favourable circumstances1 but our whole conscious life is the performance of acts either imperfectly remembered or not remembered at all4 ,there are rain-drops of new experiences in every life which are not within the hold of our memory or past experience1 and1 as each one of these rain-drops came originally from something outside1 the whole river of our life has in its inception nothing to do with memory1 though it is only through memory that the rain-drops of new experience can ever unite to form a full flowing river of variously organised life and intelligence4 ,memory and ,mistakes ,memory vanishes with extremes of resemblance or difference4 ,things which put us in mind of others must be neither too like nor too unlike them4 ,it is our sense that a position is not quite the same which makes us find it so nearly the same4 ,we remember by the aid of differences as much as by that of samenesses4 ,if there could be no difference there would be no memory1 for the two positions would become absolutely one and the same1 and the universe would repeat itself for ever and ever as between these two points4 ,when ninety-nine hundredths of one set of phenomena are presented while the hundredth is withdrawn without apparent cause1 so that we can no longer do something which according to our past experience we ought to find no difficulty in doing1 then we may guess what a bee must feel as it goes flying up and down a window-pane4 ,then we have doubts thrown upon the fundamental axiom of life1 i4e4 that like antecedents will be followed by like consequents4 ,on this we go mad and die in a short time4 ,mistaken memory may be as potent as genuine recollection1 so far as its effects go1 unless it happens to come more into collision with other and not mistaken memories than it is able to contend against4 ,mistakes or delusions occur mainly in two ways4 ,first1 when the circumstances have changed a little but not enough to make us recognise the fact3 this may happen either because of want of attention on our part or because of the hidden nature of the alteration1 or because of its slightness in itself1 the importance depending upon its relations to something else which make a very small change have an importance it would not otherwise have3 in these cases the memory reverts to the old circumstances unmodified1 a sufficient number of the associated ideas having been reproduced to make us assume the remainder without further inspection1 and hence follows a want of harmony between action and circumstances which results in trouble somewhere4 ,secondly1 through the memory not reverting in full perfection1 though the circumstances are reproduced fully and accurately4 ,remembering ,when asked to remember 8something0 indefinitely you cannot3 you look round at once for something to suggest what you shall try and remember4 ,for thought must be always about some 8thing0 which thing must either be a thing by courtesy1 as an air of ,handel's1 or else a solid1 tangible object1 as a piano or an organ1 but always the thing must be linked on to matter by a longer or shorter chain as the case may be4 ,i was thinking of this once while walking by the side of the ,serpentine and1 looking round1 saw some ducks alighting on the water2 their feet reminded me of the way the sea-birds used to alight when ,i was going to ,new ,zealand and ,i set to work recalling attendant facts4 ,without help from outside ,i should have remembered nothing4 ,a ,torn ,finger-,nail ,henry ,hoare a college friend1 when a young man of about five-and-twenty1 one day tore the quick of his fingernail--,i mean he separated the fleshy part of the finger from the nail--and this reminded him that many years previously1 while quite a child1 he had done the same thing4 ,thereon he fell to thinking of that time which was impressed upon his memory partly because there was a great disturbance in the house about a missing five-pound note and partly because it was while he had the scarlet fever4 ,following the train of thought aroused by his torn finger1 he asked himself how he had torn it1 and after a while it came back to him that he had been lying ill in bed as a child of seven at the house of an aunt who lived in ,hertfordshire4 ,his arms often hung out of the bed and1 as his hands wandered over the wooden frame1 he felt that there was a place where nut had come out so that he could put his fingers in4 ,one day1 in trying to stuff a piece of paper into this hole1 he stuffed it in so far and so tightly that he tore the quick of nail4 ,the whole thing came back vividly and1 though he had not thought of it for nearly twenty years1 he could see the room in his aunt's house and remembered how his aunt use to sit by his bedside writing at a little table from which he had got the piece of paper which he had stuffed into the hole4 ,so far so good4 ,but then there flashed upon him an idea that was not so pleasant4 ,i mean it came upon him with irresistible force that the piece of paper1 he had stuffed into the hole in the bedstead was the missing five-pound note about which there had been so much disturbance4 ,at that time he was so young that a five-pound note was to him only a piece of paper2 when he heard that the money was missing1 he had thought it was five sovereigns2 or perhaps he was too ill to think anything1 or to be questioned2 ,i forget what ,i was told about this--at any rate he had no idea of the value of the piece of paper he was stuffing into the hole4 ,but now the matter had recurred to him at all he felt so sure that it was the note that he immediately went down to ,hertfordshire1 where his aunt was still living1 and asked1 to the surprise of every one1 to be allowed to wash his hands in the room he had occupied as a child4 ,he was told that there were friends staying in the house who had the room at present1 but1 on his saying he had a reason and particularly begging to be allowed to remain alone a little while in this room1 he was taken upstairs and left there4 ,he went to the bed1 lifted up the chintz which then covered the frame1 and found his old friend the hole4 ,a nut had been supplied and he could no longer get his finger into it4 ,he rang the bell and when the servant came asked for a bed-key4 ,all this time he was rapidly acquiring the reputation of being a lunatic throughout the whole house1 but the key was brought1 and by the help of it he got the nut off4 ,when he had done so1 there1 sure enough1 by dint of picking with his pocket-knife1 he found the missing five-pound note4 ,see how the return of a given present brings back the presents that have been associated with it4 ,unconscious ,association ,one morning ,i was whistling to myself the air 8,in ,sweetest ,harmony0 from ,saul4 ,jones heard me and said3 8,do you know why you are whistling that80 ,i said ,i did not4 ,then he said3 8,did you not hear me1 two minutes ago1 whistling #8,eagles were not so ,swift'80 ,i had not noticed his doing so1 and it was so long since ,i had played that chorus myself that ,i doubt whether ,i should have consciously recognised it4 ,that ,i did recognise it unconsciously is tolerably clear from my having gone on with 8,in ,sweetest ,harmony10 which is the air that follows it4 ,association ,if you say 8,hallelujah0 to a cat1 it will excite no fixed set of fibres in connection with any other set and the cat will exhibit none of the phenomena of consciousness4 ,but if you say 8,me-e-at10 the cat will be there in a moment1 for the due connection between the sets of fibres has been established4 ,language ,the reason why words recall ideas is that the word has been artificially introduced among the associated ideas1 and the presence of one idea recalls the others4 ,v ,vibrations ,contributions to ,evolution ,to me it seems that my contributions to the theory of evolution have been mainly these3 #a4 ,the identification of heredity and memory and the corollaries relating to sports1 the reversion to remote ancestors1 the phenomena of old age1 the causes of the sterility of hybrids and the principles underlying longevity--all of which follow as a matter of course4 ,this was ,life and ,habit4 #ahgg4 #b4 ,the re-introduction of teleology into organic life which1 to me1 seems hardly 7if at all7 less important than the ,life and ,habit theory4 ,this was ,evolution ,old and ,new4 #ahgi4 #c4 ,an attempt to suggest an explanation of the physics of memory4 ,i was alarmed by the suggestion and fathered it upon ,professor ,hering who never1 that ,i can see1 meant to say anything of the kind1 but ,i forced my view on him1 as it were1 by taking hold of a sentence or two in his lecture1 on ,memory as a ,universal ,function of ,organised ,matter and thus connected memory with vibrations4 ,this was ,unconscious ,memory4 #ahhj4 ,what ,i want to do now #ahhe is to connect vibrations not only with memory but with the physical constitution of that body in which the memory resides1 thus adopting ,newland's law 7sometimes called ,mendelejeff's law7 that there is only one substance1 and that the characteristics of the vibrations going on within it at any given time will determine whether it will appear to us as 7say7 hydrogen1 or sodium1 or chicken doing this1 or chicken doing the other4 ,this touched upon in the concluding chapter of ,luck or ,cunning8 #ahhg4 ,i would make not only the mind1 but the body of the organism to depend on the characteristics of the vibrations going on within it4 ,the same vibrations which remind the chicken that it wants iron for its blood actually turn the pre-existing matter in the egg into the required material4 ,according to this view the form and characteristics of the elements are as much the living expositions of certain vibrations--are as much our manner of perceiving that the vibrations going on in that part of the one universal substance are such and such--as the colour yellow is our perception that a substance is being struck by vibrations of light1 so many to the second1 or as the action of a man walking about is our mode of perceiving that such and such another combination of vibrations is1 for the present1 going on in the substance which1 in consequence1 has assumed the shape of the particular man4 ,it is somewhere in this neighbourhood that ,i look for the connection between organic and inorganic4 ,the ,universal ,substance i ,we shall never get straight till we leave off trying to separate mind and matter4 ,mind is not a thing or1 if it be1 we know nothing about it2 it is a function of matter4 ,matter is not a thing or1 if it be1 we know nothing about it2 it is a function of mind4 ,we should see an omnipotent1 universal substance1 sometimes in a dynamical and sometimes in a statical condition and1 in either condition1 always retaining a little of its opposite2 and we should see this substance as at once both material and mental1 whether it be in the one condition or in the other4 ,the statical condition represents content1 the dynamical1 discontent2 and both content and discontent1 each still retaining a little of its opposite1 must be carried down to the lowest atom4 ,action is the process whereby thought1 which is mental1 is materialised and whereby substance1 which is material1 is mentalised4 ,it is like the present1 which unites times past and future and which is the only time worth thinking of and yet is the only time which has no existence4 ,i do not say that thought actually passes into substance1 or mind into matter1 by way of action--,i do not know what thought is--but every thought involves bodily change1 i4e4 action1 and every action involves thought1 conscious or unconscious4 ,the action is the point of juncture between bodily change1 visible and otherwise sensible1 and mental change which is invisible except as revealed through action4 ,so that action is the material symbol of certain states of mind4 ,it translates the thought into a corresponding bodily change4 ii ,when the universal substance is at rest1 that is1 not vibrating at all1 it is absolutely imperceptible whether by itself or anything else4 ,it is to all intents and purposes fast asleep or1 rather1 so completely non-existent that you can walk through it1 or it through you1 and it knows neither time nor space but presents all the appearance of perfect vacuum4 ,it is in an absolutely statical state4 ,but when it is not at rest1 it becomes perceptible both to itself and others2 that is to say1 it assumes material guise such as makes it imperceptible both to itself and others4 ,it is then tending towards rest1 i4e4 in a dynamical state4 ,the not being at rest is the being in a vibratory condition4 ,it is the disturbance of the repose of the universal1 invisible and altogether imperceptible substance by way of vibration which constitutes matter at all2 it is the character of the vibrations which constitutes the particular kind of matter4 7,may we imagine that some vibrations vibrate with a rhythm which has a tendency to recur like the figures in a recurring decimal1 and that here we have the origin of the reproductive system87 ,we should realise that all space is at all times full of a stuff endowed with a mind and that both stuff and mind are immaterial and imperceptible so long as they are undisturbed1 but the moment they are disturbed the stuff becomes material and the mind perceptible4 ,it is not easy to disturb them1 for the atmosphere protects them4 ,so long as they are undisturbed they transmit light1 etc41 just as though they were a rigid substance1 for1 not being disturbed1 they detract nothing from any vibration which enters them4 ,what will cause a row will be the hitting upon some plan for waking up the ether4 ,it is here that we must look for the extension of the world when it has become over-peopled or when1 through its gradual cooling down1 it becomes less suitable for a habitation4 ,by and by we shall make new worlds4 ,mental and ,physical ,a strong hope of #bj1jjj in the heart of a poor but capable man may effect a considerable redistribution of the forces of nature--may even remove mountains4 ,the little1 unseen impalpable hope sets up a vibrating movement in a messy substance shut in a dark warm place inside the man's skull4 ,the vibrating substance undergoes a change that none can note1 whereupon rings of rhythm circle outwards from it as from a stone thrown into a pond1 so that the ,alps are pierced in consequence4 ,vibrations1 ,memory and ,chemical ,properties ,the quality of every substance depends upon its vibrations1 but so does the quality of all thought and action4 ,quality is only one mode of action2 the action of developing1 the desire to make this or that1 and do this or that1 and the stuff we make are alike due to the nature and characteristics of vibrations4 ,i want to connect the actual manufacture of the things a chicken makes inside an egg with the desire and memory of the chickens1 so as to show that one and the same set of vibrations at once change the universal substratum into the particular phase of it required and awaken a consciousness of1 and a memory of and a desire towards1 this particular phase on the part of the molecules which are being vibrated into it4 ,so1 for example1 that a set of vibrations shall at once turn plain white and yolk of egg into the feathers1 blood and bones of a chicken and1 at the same time1 make the mind of the embryo to be such or such as it is4 ,protoplasm and ,reproduction ,the reason why the offspring of protoplasm progressed1 and the offspring of nothing else does so1 is that the viscid nature of protoplasm allows vibrations to last a very long time1 and so very old vibrations get carried into any fragment that is broken off2 whereas in the case of air and water1 vibrations get soon effaced and only very recent vibrations get carried into the young air and the young water which are1 therefore1 born fully grown2 they cannot grow any more nor can they decay till they are killed outright by something decomposing them4 ,if protoplasm was more viscid it would not vibrate easily enough2 if less1 it would run away into the surrounding water4 ,germs within ,germs ,when we say that the germ within the hen's egg remembers having made itself into a chicken on past occasions1 or that each one of #ajj1jjj salmon germs remembers to have made itself into a salmon 7male or female7 in the persons of the single pair of salmon its parents1 do we intend that each single one of these germs was a witness of1 and a concurring agent in1 the development of the parent forms from their respective germs1 and that each one of them therefore1 was shut up within the parent germ1 like a small box inside a big one8 ,if so1 then the parent germ with its millions of brothers and sisters was in like manner enclosed within a grand-parental germ1 and so on till we are driven to admit1 after even a very few generations1 that each ancestor has contained more germs than could be expressed by a number written in small numerals1 beginning at ,st4 ,paul's and ending at ,charing ,cross4 ,mr4 ,darwin's provisional theory of pangenesis comes to something very like this1 so far as it can be understood at all4 ,therefore it will save trouble 7and we should observe no other consideration7 to say that the germs that unite to form any given sexually produced individual were not present in the germs1 or with the germs1 from which the parents sprang1 but that they came into the parents' bodies at some later period4 ,we may perhaps find it convenient to account for their intimate acquaintance with the past history of the body into which they have been introduced by supposing that in virtue of assimilation they have acquired certain periodical rhythms already pre-existing in the parental bodies1 and that the communication of the characteristics of these rhythms determines at once the physical and psychical development of the individual in a course as nearly like that of the parents as changed surroundings will allow4 ,for1 according to my ,life and ,habit theory1 everything in connection with embryonic development is referred to memory1 and this involves that the thing remembering should have been present and an actor in the development which it is supposed to remember2 but we have just settled that the germs which unite to form any individual1 and which when united proceed to develop according to what ,i suppose to be their memory of their previous developments1 were not participators in any previous development and cannot therefore remember it4 ,they cannot remember even a single development1 much less can they remember that infinite series of developments the recollection and epitomisation of which is a sine qua non for the unconsciousness which we note in normal development4 ,i see no way of getting out of this difficulty so convenient as to say that a memory is the reproduction and recurrence of a rhythm communicated directly or indirectly from one substance to another1 and that where a certain rhythm exists there is a certain stock of memories1 whether the actual matter in which the rhythm now subsists was present with the matter in which it arose or not4 ,there is another little difficulty in the question whether the matter that ,i suppose introduced into the parents' bodies during their life-histories1 and that goes to form the germs that afterwards become their offspring1 is living or non-living4 ,if living1 then it has its own memories and life-histories which must be cancelled and undone before the assimilation and the becoming imbued with new rhythms can be complete4 ,that is to say it must become as near non-living as anything can become4 ,sooner or later1 then1 we get this introduced matter to be non-living 7as we may call it7 and the puzzle is how to get it living again4 ,for we strenuously deny equivocal generation4 ,when matter is living we contend that it can only have been begotten of other like living matter2 we deny that it can have become living from non-living4 ,here1 however1 within the bodies of animals and vegetables we find equivocal generation a necessity2 nor do ,i see any way out of it except by maintaining that nothing is ever either quite dead or quite alive1 but that a little leaven of the one is always left in the other4 ,for it would be as difficult to get the thing dead if it is once all alive1 as alive if once all dead4 ,according to this view to beget offspring is to communicate to two pieces of protoplasm 7which afterwards combine7 certain rhythmic vibrations which1 though too feeble to generate visible action until they receive accession of fresh similar rhythms from exterior objects1 yet on receipt of such accession set the game of development going and maintain it4 ,it will be observed that the rhythms supposed to be communicated to any germs are such as have been already repeatedly refreshed by rhythms from exterior objects in preceding generations1 so that a consonance is rehearsed and pre-arranged1 as it were1 between the rhythm in the germ and those that in the normal course of its ulterior existence are likely to flow into it4 ,if there is too serious a discord between inner and outer rhythms the organism dies4 ,atoms and ,fixed ,laws ,when people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws1 they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are talking nonsense4 ,there is no obedience unless there is at any rate a potentiality of disobeying4 ,no objection can lie to our supposing potential or elementary volition and consciousness to exist in atoms1 on the score that their action would be less regular or uniform if they had free will than if they had not4 ,by giving them free will we do no more than those who make them bound to obey fixed laws4 ,they will be as certain to use their freedom of will only in particular ways as to be driven into those ways by obedience to fixed laws4 ,the little element of individual caprice 7supposing we start with free will71 or 7supposing we start with necessity7 the little element of stiffneckedness1 both of which elements we find everywhere in nature1 these are the things that prevent even the most reliable things from being absolutely reliable4 ,it is they that form the point of contact between this universe and something else quite different in which none of those fundamental ideas obtain without which we cannot think at all4 ,so we say that nitrous acid is more reliable than nitric for etching4 ,atoms have a mind as much smaller and less complex than ours as their bodies are smaller and less complex4 ,complex mind involves complex matter and vice versa4 ,on the whole ,i think it would be most convenient to endow all atoms with a something of consciousness and volition1 and to hold them to be pro tanto1 living4 ,we must suppose them able to remember and forget1 i4e4 to retain certain vibrations that have been once established--gradually to lose them and to receive others instead4 ,we must suppose some more intelligent1 versatile and of greater associative power than others4 ,thinking ,all thinking is of disturbance1 dynamical1 a state of unrest tending towards equilibrium4 ,it is all a mode of classifying and of criticising with a view of knowing whether it gives us1 or is likely to give us1 pleasure or no4 ,equilibrium ,in the highest consciousness there is still unconsciousness1 in the lowest unconsciousness there is still consciousness4 ,if there is no consciousness there is no thing1 or nothing4 ,to understand perfectly would be to cease to understand at all4 ,it is in the essence of heaven that we are not to be thwarted or irritated1 this involves absolute equilibrium and absolute equilibrium involves absolute unconsciousness4 ,christ is equilibrium--the not wanting anything1 either more or less4 ,death also is equilibrium4 ,but ,christ is a more living kind of death than death is4 ,,vi ,mind and ,matter ,motion ,,we cannot define either motion or matter1 but we have certain rough and ready ideas concerning them which1 right or wrong1 we must make the best of without more words1 for the chances are ten to one that attempted definition will fuzz more than it will clear4 ,roughly1 matter and motion are functions one of another1 as are mind and matter2 they are essentially concomitant with one another1 and neither can vary but the other varies also4 ,you cannot have a thing 8matter0 by itself which shall have no motion in it1 nor yet a thing 8motion0 by itself which shall exist apart from matter2 you must have both or neither4 ,you can have matter moving much1 or little1 and in all conceivable ways2 but you cannot have matter without any motion more than you can have motion without any matter that is moving4 ,its states1 its behaviour under varying circumstances1 that is to say the characteristics of its motions1 are all that we can cognise in respect of matter4 ,we recognise certain varying states or conditions of matter and give one state one name1 and another another1 as though it were a man or a dog2 but it is the state not the matter that we cognise1 just as it is the man's moods and outward semblance that we alone note1 while knowing nothing of the man4 ,of matter in its ultimate essence and apart from motion we know nothing whatever4 ,as far as we are concerned there is no such thing3 it has no existence3 for de non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio4 ,it is a mistake1 therefore1 to speak about an 8eternal unchangeable underlying substance0 as ,i am afraid ,i did in the last pages of ,luck or ,cunning8 but ,i am not going to be at the trouble of seeing4 ,for1 if the substance is eternal and unknowable and unchangeable1 it is tantamount to nothing4 ,nothing can be nearer non-existence than eternal unknowableness and unchangeableness4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the substance changes1 then it is not unknowable1 or uncognisable1 for by cognising its changes we cognise it4 ,changes are the only things that we can cognise4 ,besides1 we cannot have substance changing without condition changing1 and if we could we might as well ignore condition4 ,does it not seem as though1 since the motions or states are all that we cognise1 they should be all that we need take account of8 ,change of condition is change of substance4 ,then what do we want with substance8 ,why have two ideas when one will do8 ,i suppose it has all come about because there are so many tables and chairs and stones that appear not to be moving1 and this gave us the idea of a solid substance without any motion in it4 ,how would it be to start with motion approximately patent1 and motion approximately latent 7absolute patency and absolute latency being unattainable71 and lay down that motion latent as motion becomes patent as substance1 or matter of chair-and-table order2 and that when patent as motion it is latent as matter and substance8 ,i am only just recovering from severe influenza and have no doubt ,i have been writing nonsense4 ,matter and ,mind i ,people say we can conceive the existence of matter and the existence of mind4 ,i doubt it4 ,i doubt how far we have any definite conception of mind or of matter1 pure and simple4 ,what is meant by conceiving a thing or understanding it8 ,when we hear of a piece of matter instinct with mind1 as protoplasm1 for example1 there certainly comes up before our closed eyes an idea1 a picture which we imagine to bear some resemblance to the thing we are hearing of4 ,but when we try to think of matter apart from every attribute of matter 7and this ,i suspect comes ultimately to 8apart from every attribute of mind07 we get no image before our closed eyes--we realise nothing to ourselves4 ,perhaps we surreptitiously introduce some little attribute1 and then we think we have conceived of matter pure and simple1 but this ,i think is as far as we can go4 ,the like holds good for mind3 we must smuggle in a little matter before we get any definite idea at all4 ii ,matter and mind are as heat and cold1 as life and death1 certainty and uncertainty1 union and separateness4 ,there is no absolute heat1 life1 certainty1 union1 nor is there any absolute cold1 death1 uncertainty or separateness4 ,we can conceive of no ultimate limit beyond which a thing cannot become either hotter or colder1 there is no limit2 there are degrees of heat and cold1 but there is no heat so great that we cannot fancy its becoming a little hotter1 that is we cannot fancy its not having still a few degrees of cold in it which can be extracted4 ,heat and cold are always relative to one another1 they are never absolute4 ,so with life and death1 there is neither perfect life nor perfect death1 but in the highest life there is some death and in the lowest death there is still some life4 ,the fraction is so small that in practice it may and must be neglected2 it is neglected1 however1 not as of right but as of grace1 and the right to insist on it is never finally and indefeasibly waived4 iii ,an energy is a soul--a something working in us4 ,as we cannot imagine heat apart from something which is hot1 nor motion without something that is moving1 so we cannot imagine an energy1 or working power1 without matter through which it manifests itself4 ,on the other hand1 we cannot imagine matter without thinking of it as capable of some kind of working power or energy--we cannot think of matter without thinking of it as in some way ensouled4 iv ,matter and mind form one another1 i4e4 they give to one another the form in which we see them4 ,they are the helpmeets to one another that cross each other and undo each other and1 in the undoing1 do and1 in the doing1 undo1 and so see-saw ad infinitum4 ,organic and ,inorganic ,animals and plants cannot understand our business1 so we have denied that they can understand their own4 ,what we call inorganic matter cannot understand the animals' and plants' business1 we have therefore denied that it can understand anything whatever4 ,what we call inorganic is not so really1 but the organisation is too subtle for our senses or for any of those appliances with which we assist them4 ,it is deducible however as a necessity by an exercise of the reasoning faculties4 ,people looked at glaciers for thousands of years before they found out that ice was a fluid1 so it has taken them and will continue to take them not less before they see that the inorganic is not wholly inorganic4 ,the ,power to make ,mistakes ,this is one of the criteria of life as we commonly think of it4 ,if oxygen could go wrong and mistake some other gas for hydrogen and thus learn not to mistake it any more1 we should say oxygen was alive4 ,the older life is1 the more unerring it becomes in respect of things about which it is conversant--the more like1 in fact1 it becomes to such a thing as the force of gravity1 both as regards unerringness and unconsciousness4 ,is life such a force as gravity in process of formation1 and was gravity once--or rather1 were things once liable to make mistakes on such a subject as gravity8 ,if any one will tell me what life is ,i will tell him whether the inorganic is alive or not4 ,the ,omnipresence of ,intelligence ,a little while ago no one would admit that animals had intelligence4 ,this is now conceded4 ,at any rate1 then1 vegetables had no intelligence4 ,this is being fast disputed4 ,even ,darwin leans towards the view that they have intelligence4 ,at any rate1 then1 the inorganic world has not got an intelligence4 ,even this is now being denied4 ,death is being defeated at all points4 ,no sooner do we think we have got a bona fide barrier than it breaks down4 ,the divisions between varieties1 species1 genus1 all gone2 between instinct and reason1 gone2 between animals and plants1 gone2 between man and the lower animals1 gone2 so1 ere long1 the division between organic and inorganic will go and will take with it the division between mind and matter4 ,the ,super-,organic ,kingdom ,as the solid inorganic kingdom supervened upon the gaseous 7vestiges of the old being1 nevertheless1 carried over into and still persisting in the new7 and as the organic kingdom supervened upon the inorganic 7vestiges of the old being1 again1 carried over into and still persisting in the new7 so a third kingdom is now in process of development1 the super-organic1 of which we see the germs in the less practical and more emotional side of our nature4 ,man1 for example1 is the only creature that interests himself in his own past1 or forecasts his future to any considerable extent4 ,this tendency ,i would see as the monad of a new regime--a regime that will be no more governed by the ideas and habits now prevailing among ourselves than we are by those still obtaining among stones or water4 ,nevertheless1 if a man be shot out of a cannon1 or fall from a great height1 he is to all intents and purposes a mere stone4 ,place anything in circumstances entirely foreign to its immediate antecedents1 and those antecedents become non-existent to it1 it returns to what it was before they existed1 to the last stage that it can recollect as at all analogous to its present4 ,feeling ,man is a substance1 he knows not what1 feeling1 he knows not how1 a rest and unrest that he can only in part distinguish4 ,he is a substance feeling equilibrium or want of equilibrium2 that is to say1 he is a substance in a statical or dynamical condition and feeling the passage from one state into the other4 ,feeling is an art and1 like any other art1 can be acquired by taking pains4 ,the analogy between feelings and words is very close4 ,both have their foundation in volition and deal largely in convention2 as we should not be word-ridden so neither should we be feeling-ridden2 feelings can deceive us2 they can lie2 they can be used in a non-natural1 artificial sense2 they can be forced2 they can carry us away2 they can be restrained4 ,when the surroundings are familiar1 we know the right feeling and feel it accordingly1 or if 8we0 7that is the central government of our personality7 do not feel it1 the subordinate departmental personality1 whose business it is1 feels it in the usual way and then goes on to something else4 ,when the surroundings are less familiar and the departmental personality cannot deal with them1 the position is reported through the nervous system to the central government which is frequently at a loss to know what feeling to apply4 ,sometimes it happens to discern the right feeling and apply it1 sometimes it hits upon an inappropriate one and is thus induced to proceed from solecism to solecism till the consequences lead to a crisis from which we recover and which1 then becoming a leading case1 forms one of the decisions on which our future action is based4 ,sometimes it applies a feeling that is too inappropriate1 as when the position is too horribly novel for us to have had any experience that can guide the central government in knowing how to feel about it1 and this results in a cessation of the effort involved in trying to feel4 ,hence we may hope that the most horrible apparent suffering is not felt beyond a certain point1 but is passed through unconsciously under a natural1 automatic ansthetic--the unconsciousness1 in extreme cases1 leading to death4 ,it is generally held that animals feel2 it will soon be generally held that plants feel2 after that it will be held that stones also can feel4 ,for1 as no matter is so organic that there is not some of the inorganic in it1 so1 also1 no matter is so inorganic that there is not some of the organic in it4 ,we know that we have nerves and that we feel1 it does not follow that other things do not feel because they have no nerves--it only follows that they do not feel as we do4 ,the difference between the organic and the inorganic kingdoms will some day be seen to lie in the greater power of discriminating its feelings which is possessed by the former4 ,both are made of the same universal substance but1 in the case of the organic world1 this substance is able to feel more fully and discreetly and to show us that it feels4 ,animals and plants1 as they advance in the scale of life differentiate their feelings more and more highly2 they record them better and recognise them more readily4 ,they get to know what they are doing and feeling1 not step by step only1 nor sentence by sentence1 but in long flights1 forming chapters and whole books of action and sensation4 ,the difference as regards feeling between man and the lower animals is one of degree and not of kind4 ,the inorganic is less expert in differentiating its feelings1 therefore its memory of them must be less enduring2 it cannot recognise what it could scarcely cognise4 ,one might as well for some purposes1 perhaps1 say at once1 as indeed people generally do for most purposes1 that the inorganic does not feel2 nevertheless the somewhat periphrastic way of putting it1 by saying that the inorganic feels but does not know1 or knows only very slightly1 how to differentiate its feelings1 has the advantage of expressing the fact that feeling depends upon differentiation and sense of relation inter se of the things differentiated--a fact which1 if never expressed1 is apt to be lost sight of4 ,as1 therefore1 human discrimination is to that of the lower animals1 so the discrimination of the lower animals and plants is to that of inorganic things4 ,in each case it is greater discriminating power 7and this is mental power7 that underlies the differentiation1 but in no case can there be a denial of mental power altogether4 ,opinion and ,matter ,moral force and material force do pass into one another2 a conflict of opinion often ends in a fight4 ,putting it the other way1 there is no material conflict without attendant clash of opinion4 ,opinion and matter act and react as do all things else2 they come up hand in hand out of something which is both and neither1 but1 so far as we can catch sight of either first on our mental horizon1 it is opinion that is the prior of the two4 ,moral ,influence ,the caracal lies on a shelf in its den in the ,zoological ,gardens quietly licking its fur4 ,i go up and stand near it4 ,it makes a face at me4 ,i come a little nearer4 ,it makes a worse face and raises itself up on its haunches4 ,i stand and look4 ,it jumps down from its shelf and makes as if it intended to go for me4 ,i move back4 ,the caracal has exerted a moral influence over me which ,i have been unable to resist4 ,moral influence means persuading another that one can make that other more uncomfortable than that other can make oneself4 ,mental and ,physical ,pabulum ,when we go up to the shelves in the reading-room of the ,british ,museum1 how like it is to wasps flying up and down an apricot tree that is trained against a wall1 or cattle coming down to drink at a pool6 ,eating and ,proselytising ,all eating is a kind of proselytising--a kind of dogmatising--a maintaining that the eater's way of looking at things is better than the eatee's4 ,we convert the food1 or try to do so1 to our own way of thinking1 and1 when it sticks to its own opinion and refuses to be converted1 we say it disagrees with us4 ,an animal that refuses to let another eat it has the courage of its convictions and1 if it gets eaten1 dies a martyr to them4 ,so we can only proselytise fresh meat1 the convictions of putrid meat begin to be too strong for us4 ,it is good for a man that he should not be thwarted--that he should have his own way as far1 and with as little difficulty1 as possible4 ,cooking is good because it makes matters easier by unsettling the meat's mind and preparing it for new ideas4 ,all food must first be prepared for us by animals and plants1 or we cannot assimilate it2 and so thoughts are more easily assimilated that have been already digested by other minds4 ,a man should avoid converse with things that have been stunted or starved1 and should not eat such meat as has been overdriven or underfed or afflicted with disease1 nor should he touch fruit or vegetables that have not been well grown4 ,sitting quiet after eating is akin to sitting still during divine service so as not to disturb the congregation4 ,we are catechising and converting our proselytes1 and there should be no row4 ,as we get older we must digest more quietly still1 our appetite is less1 our gastric juices are no longer so eloquent1 they have lost that cogent fluency which carried away all that came in contact with it4 ,they have become sluggish and unconciliatory4 ,this is what happens to any man when he suffers from an attack of indigestion4 ,sea-,sickness ,or1 indeed1 any other sickness is the inarticulate expression of the pain we feel on seeing a proselyte escape us just as we were on the point of converting it4 ,indigestion ,this1 as ,i have said above1 may be due to the naughtiness of the stiff-necked things that we have eaten1 or to the poverty of our own arguments2 but it may also arise from an attempt on the part of the stomach to be too damned clever1 and to depart from precedent inconsiderately4 ,the healthy stomach is nothing if not conservative4 ,few radicals have good digestions4 ,assimilation and ,persecution ,we cannot get rid of persecution2 if we feel at all we must persecute something2 the mere acts of feeding and growing are acts of persecution4 ,our aim should be to persecute nothing but such things as are absolutely incapable of resisting us4 ,man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them4 ,matter ,infinitely ,subdivisible ,we must suppose it to be so1 but it does not follow that we can know anything about it if it is divided into pieces smaller than a certain size2 and1 if we can know nothing about it when so divided1 then1 qua us1 it has no existence and therefore matter1 qua us1 is not infinitely subdivisible4 ,differences ,we often say that things differ in degree but not in kind1 as though there were a fixed line at which degree ends and kind begins4 ,there is no such line4 ,all differences resolve themselves into differences of degree4 ,everything can in the end be united with everything by easy stages if a way long enough and round-about enough be taken4 ,hence to the metaphysician everything will become one1 being united with everything else by degrees so subtle that there is no escape from seeing the universe as a single whole4 ,this in theory2 but in practice it would get us into such a mess that we had better go on talking about differences of kind as well as of degree4 ,union and ,separation ,in the closest union there is still some separate existence of component parts2 in the most complete separation there is still a reminiscence of union4 ,when they are most separate1 the atoms seem to bear in mind that they may one day have to come together again2 when most united1 they still remember that they may come to fall out some day and do not give each other their full1 unreserved confidence4 ,the difficulty is how to get unity and separateness at one and the same time4 ,the two main ideas underlying all action are desire for closer unity and desire for more separateness4 ,nature is the puzzled sense of a vast number of things which feel they are in an illogical position and should be more either of one thing or the other than they are4 ,so they will first be this and then that1 and act and re-act and keep the balance as near equal as they can1 yet they know all the time that it isn't right and1 as they incline one way or the other1 they will love or hate4 ,when we love1 we draw what we love closer to us2 when we hate a thing1 we fling it away from us4 ,all disruption and dissolution is a mode of hating2 and all that we call affinity is a mode of loving4 ,the puzzle which puzzles every atom is the puzzle which puzzles ourselves--a conflict of duties--our duty towards ourselves1 and our duty as members of a body politic4 ,it is swayed by its sense of being a separate thing--of having a life to itself which nothing can share2 it is also swayed by the feeling that1 in spite of this1 it is only part of an individuality which is greater than itself and which absorbs it4 ,its action will vary with the predominance of either of these two states of opinion4 ,unity and ,multitude ,we can no longer separate things as we once could3 everything tends towards unity2 one thing1 one action1 in one place1 at one time4 ,on the other hand1 we can no longer unify things as we once could2 we are driven to ultimate atoms1 each one of which is an individuality4 ,so that we have an infinite multitude of things doing an infinite multitude of actions in infinite time and space2 and yet they are not many things1 but one thing4 ,the ,atom ,the idea of an indivisible1 ultimate atom is inconceivable by the lay mind4 ,if we can conceive an idea of the atom at all1 we can conceive it as capable of being cut in half indeed1 we cannot conceive it at all unless we so conceive it4 ,the only true atom1 the only thing which we cannot subdivide and cut in half1 is the universe4 ,we cannot cut a bit off the universe and put it somewhere else4 ,therefore1 the universe is a true atom and1 indeed1 is the smallest piece of indivisible matter which our minds can conceive2 and they cannot conceive it any more than they can the indivisible1 ultimate atom4 ,our ,cells ,a string of young ducklings as they sidle along through grass beside a ditch--how like they are to a single serpent6 ,i said in ,life and ,habit that a colossal being1 looking at the earth through a microscope1 would probably think the ants and flies of one year the same as those of the preceding year4 ,i should have added3--,so we think we are composed of the same cells from year to year1 whereas in truth the cells are a succession of generations4 ,the most continuous1 homogeneous things we know are only like a lot of cow-bells on an alpine pasture4 ,nerves and ,postmen ,a letter1 so long as it is connected with one set of nerves1 is one thing2 loose it from connection with those nerves--open your fingers and drop it in the opening of a pillar box--and it becomes part and parcel of another nervous system4 ,letters in transitu contain all manner of varied stimuli and shocks1 yet to the postman1 who is the nerve that conveys them1 they are all alike1 except as regards mere size and weight4 ,i should think1 therefore1 that our nerves and ganglia really see no difference in the stimuli that they convey4 ,and yet the postman does see some difference3 he knows a business letter from a valentine at a glance and practice teaches him to know much else which escapes ourselves4 ,who1 then1 shall say what the nerves and ganglia know and what they do not know8 ,true1 to us1 as we think of a piece of brain inside our own heads1 it seems as absurd to consider that it knows anything at all as it seems to consider that a hen's egg knows anything2 but then if the brain could see us1 perhaps the brain might say it was absurd to suppose that that thing could know this or that4 ,besides what is the self of which we say that we are self-conscious8 ,no one can say what it is that we are conscious of4 ,this is one of the things which lie altogether outside the sphere of words4 ,the postman can open a letter if he likes and know all about the message he is conveying1 but1 if he does this1 he is diseased qua postman4 ,so1 maybe1 a nerve might open a stimulus or a shock on the way sometimes1 but it would not be a good nerve4 ,night-,shirts and ,babies ,on ,hindhead1 last ,easter1 we saw a family wash hung out to dry4 ,there were papa's two great night-shirts and mamma's two lesser night-gowns and then the children's smaller articles of clothing and mamma's drawers and the girls' drawers1 all full swollen with a strong north-east wind4 ,but mamma's night-gown was not so well pinned on and1 instead of being full of steady wind like the others1 kept blowing up and down as though she were preaching wildly4 ,we stood and laughed for ten minutes4 ,the housewife came to the window and wondered at us1 but we could not resist the pleasure of watching the absurdly life-like gestures which the night-gowns made4 ,i should like a ,santa ,famiglia with clothes drying in the background4 ,a love story might be told in a series of sketches of the clothes of two families hanging out to dry in adjacent gardens4 ,then a gentleman's night-shirt from one garden1 and a lady's night-gown from the other should be shown hanging in a third garden by themselves4 ,by and by there should be added a little night-shirt4 ,a philosopher might be tempted1 on seeing the little night-shirt1 to suppose that the big night-shirts had made it4 ,what we do is much the same1 for the body of a baby is not much more made by the two old babies1 after whose pattern it has cut itself out1 than the little night-shirt is made by the big ones4 ,the thing that makes either the little night-shirt or the little baby is something about which we know nothing whatever at all4 ,our ,organism ,man is a walking tool-box1 manufactory1 workshop and bazaar worked from behind the scenes by someone or something that we never see4 ,we are so used to never seeing more than the tools1 and these work so smoothly1 that we call them the workman himself1 making much the same mistake as though we should call the saw the carpenter4 ,the only workman of whom we know anything at all is the one that runs ourselves and even this is not perceivable by any of our gross palpable senses4 ,the senses seem to be the link between mind and matter--never forgetting that we can never have either mind or matter pure and without alloy of the other4 ,beer and ,my ,cat ,spilt beer or water seems sometimes almost human in its uncertainty whether or no it is worth while to get ever such a little nearer to the earth's centre by such and such a slight trickle forward4 ,i saw my cat undecided in his mind whether he should get up on the table and steal the remains of my dinner or not4 ,the chair was some eighteen inches away with its back towards the table1 so it was a little troublesome for him to get his feet first on the bar and then on the table4 ,he was not at all hungry but he tried1 saw it would not be quite easy and gave it up2 then he thought better of it and tried again1 and saw again that it was not all perfectly plain sailing2 and so backwards and forwards with the first-he-would-and-then-he-wouldn'tism of a mind so nearly in equilibrium that a hair's weight would turn the scale one way or the other4 ,i thought how closely it resembled the action of beer trickling on a slightly sloping table4 ,the ,union ,bank ,there is a settlement in the ,union ,bank building1 ,chancery ,lane1 which has made three large cracks in the main door steps4 ,i remember these cracks more than twenty years ago1 just after the bank was built1 as mere thin lines and now they must be some half an inch wide and are still slowly widening4 ,they have altered very gradually1 but not an hour or a minute has passed without a groaning and travailing together on the part of every stone and piece of timber in the building to settle how a modus vivendi should be arrived at4 ,this is why the crack is said to be caused by a settlement--some parts of the building willing this and some that1 and the battle going on1 as even the steadiest and most unbroken battles must go1 by fits and starts which1 though to us appearing as an even tenor1 would1 if we could see them under a microscope1 prove to be a succession of bloody engagements between regiments that sometimes lost and sometimes won4 ,sometimes1 doubtless1 strained relations have got settled by peaceful arbitration and reference to the solicitors of the contending parts without open visible rupture2 at other times1 again1 discontent has gathered on discontent as the snow upon a sub-alpine slope1 flake by flake1 till the last is one too many and the whole comes crashing down--whereon the cracks have opened some minute fraction of an inch wider4 ,of this we see nothing4 ,all we note is that a score of years have gone by and that the cracks are rather wider4 ,so1 doubtless1 if the materials of which the bank is built could speak1 they would say they knew nothing of the varied interests that sometimes coalesce and sometimes conflict within the building4 ,the joys of the rich depositor1 the anguish of the bankrupt are nothing to them2 the stream of people coming in and going out is as steady1 continuous a thing to them as a blowing wind or a running river to ourselves2 all they know or care about is that they have a trifle more weight of books and clerks and bullion than they once had1 and that this hinders them somewhat in their effort after a permanent settlement4 ,the ,unity of ,nature ,i meet a melancholy old ,savoyard playing on a hurdy-gurdy1 grisly1 dejected1 dirty1 with a look upon him as though the iron had long since entered into his soul4 ,it is a frosty morning but he has very little clothing1 and there is a dumb despairing look about him which is surely genuine4 ,there passes him a young butcher boy with his tray of meat upon his shoulder4 ,he is ruddy1 lusty1 full of life and health and spirits1 and he vents these in a shrill whistle which eclipses the hurdy-gurdy of the ,savoyard4 ,the like holds good with the horses and cats and dogs which ,i meet daily1 with the flies in window panes and with plants1 some are successful1 other have now passed their prime4 ,look at the failures per se and they make one very unhappy1 but it helps matters to look at them in their capacities as parts of a whole rather than as isolated4 ,i cannot see things round about me without feeling that they are all parts of one whole which is trying to do something2 it has not perhaps a perfectly clear idea of what it is trying after1 but it is doing its best4 ,i see old age1 decay and failure as the relaxation1 after effort1 of a muscle in the corporation of things1 or as a tentative effort in a wrong direction1 or as the dropping off of particles of skin from a healthy limb4 ,this dropping off is the death of any given generation of our cells as they work their way nearer and nearer to our skins and then get rubbed off and go away4 ,it is as though we sent people to live nearer and nearer the churchyard the older they grew4 ,as for the skin that is shed1 in the first place it has had its turn1 in the second it starts anew under fresh auspices1 for it can at no time cease to be part of the universe1 it must always live in one way or another4 ,croesus and ,his ,kitchen-,maid ,i want people to see either their cells as less parts of themselves than they do1 or their servants as more4 ,croesus's kitchen-maid is part of him1 bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh1 for she eats what comes from his table and1 being fed of one flesh1 are they not brother and sister to one another in virtue of community of nutriment which is but a thinly veiled travesty of descent8 ,when she eats peas with her knife1 he does so too2 there is not a bit of bread and butter she puts into her mouth1 nor a lump of sugar she drops into her tea1 but he knoweth it altogether1 though he knows nothing whatever about it4 ,she is en-,croesused and he enscullery-maided so long as she remains linked to him by the golden chain which passes from his pocket to hers1 and which is greatest of all unifiers4 ,true1 neither party is aware of the connection at all as long as things go smoothly4 ,croesus no more knows the name of1 or feels the existence of1 his kitchen-maid than a peasant in health knows about his liver2 nevertheless he is awakened to a dim sense of an undefined something when he pays his grocer or his baker4 ,she is more definitely aware of him than he of her1 but it is by way of an overshadowing presence rather than a clear and intelligent comprehension4 ,and though ,croesus does not eat his kitchen-maid's meals otherwise than vicariously1 still to eat vicariously is to eat3 the meals so eaten by his kitchen-maid nourish the better ordering of the dinner which nourishes and engenders the better ordering of ,croesus himself4 ,he is fed therefore by the feeding of his kitchen-maid4 ,and so with sleep4 ,when she goes to bed he1 in part1 does so too4 ,when she gets up and lays the fire in the back-kitchen he1 in part1 does so4 ,he lays it through her and in her1 though knowing no more what he is doing than we know when we digest1 but still doing it as by what we call a reflex action4 ,qui facit per alium facit per se1 and when the back-kitchen fire is lighted on ,croesus's behalf1 it is ,croesus who lights it1 though he is all the time fast asleep in bed4 ,sometimes things do not go smoothly4 ,suppose the kitchen-maid to be taken with fits just before dinner-time2 there will be a reverberating echo of disturbance throughout the whole organisation of the palace4 ,but the oftener she has fits1 the more easily will the household know what it is all about when she is taken with them4 ,on the first occasion ,lady ,croesus will send some one rushing down into the kitchen1 there will1 in fact1 be a general flow of blood 7i4e4 household7 to the part affected 7that is to say1 to the scullery-maid72 the doctor will be sent for and all the rest of it4 ,on each repetition of the fits the neighbouring organs1 reverting to a more primary undifferentiated condition1 will discharge duties for which they were not engaged1 in a manner for which no one would have given them credit1 and the disturbance will be less and less each time1 till by and by1 at the sound of the crockery smashing below1 ,lady ,croesus will just look up to papa and say3 8,my dear1 ,i am afraid ,sarah has got another fit40 ,and papa will say she will probably be better again soon1 and will go on reading his newspaper4 ,in course of time the whole thing will come to be managed automatically downstairs without any reference either to papa1 the cerebrum1 or to mamma1 the cerebellum1 or even to the medulla oblongata1 the housekeeper4 ,a precedent or routine will be established1 after which everything will work quite smoothly4 ,but though papa and mamma are unconscious of the reflex action which has been going on within their organisation1 the kitchen-maid and the cells in her immediate vicinity 7that is to say her fellow-servants7 will know all about it4 ,perhaps the neighbours will think that nobody in the house knows1 and that because the master and mistress show no sign of disturbance therefore there is no consciousness4 ,they forget that the scullery-maid becomes more and more conscious of the fits if they grow upon her1 as they probably will1 and that ,croesus and his lady do show more signs of consciousness1 if they are watched closely1 than can be detected on first inspection4 ,there is not the same violent perturbation that there was on the previous occasions1 but the tone of the palace is lowered4 ,a dinner party has to be put off2 the cooking is more homogeneous and uncertain1 it is less highly differentiated than when the scullery-maid was well2 and there is a grumble when the doctor has to be paid and also when the smashed crockery has to be replaced4 ,if ,croesus discharges his kitchen-maid and gets another1 it is as though he cut out a small piece of his finger and replaced it in due course by growth4 ,but even the slightest cut may lead to blood-poisoning1 and so even the dismissal of a kitchen-maid may be big with the fate of empires4 ,thus the cook1 a valued servant1 may take the kitchen-maid's part and go too4 ,the next cook may spoil the dinner and upset ,croesus's temper1 and from this all manner of consequences may be evolved1 even to the dethronement and death of the king himself4 ,nevertheless as a general rule an injury to such a low part of a great monarch's organism as a kitchen-maid has no important results4 ,it is only when we are attacked in such vital organs as the solicitor or the banker that we need be uneasy4 ,a wound in the solicitor is a very serious thing1 and many a man has died from failure of his bank's action4 ,it is certain1 as we have seen1 that when the kitchen-maid lights the fire it is really ,croesus who is lighting it1 but it is less obvious that when ,croesus goes to a ball the scullery-maid goes also4 ,still this should be held in the same way as it should be also held that she eats vicariously when ,croesus dines4 ,for he must return the balls and the dinner parties and this comes out in his requiring to keep a large establishment whereby the scullery-maid retains her place as part of his organism and is nourished and amused also4 ,on the other hand1 when ,croesus dies it does not follow that the scullery-maid should die at the same time4 ,she may grow a new ,croesus1 as ,croesus1 if the maid dies1 will probably grow a new kitchen-maid1 ,croesus's son or successor may take over the kingdom and palace1 and the kitchen-maid1 beyond having to wash up a few extra plates and dishes at ,coronation time1 will know little about the change4 ,it is as though the establishment had had its hair cut and its beard trimmed2 it is smartened up a little1 but there is no other change4 ,if1 on the other hand1 he goes bankrupt1 or his kingdom is taken from him and his whole establishment is broken up and dissipated at the auction mart1 then1 even though not one of its component cells actually dies1 the organism as a whole does so1 and it is interesting to see that the lowest1 least specialised and least highly differentiate parts of the organism1 such as the scullery-maid and the stable-boys1 most readily find an entry into the life of some new system1 while the more specialised and highly differentiated parts1 such as the steward1 the old housekeeper and1 still more so1 the librarian or the chaplain may never be able to attach themselves to any new combination1 and may die in consequence4 ,i heard once of a large builder who retired unexpectedly from business and broke up his establishment to the actual death of several of his older employs4 ,so a bit of flesh or even a finger may be taken from one body and grafted on to another1 but a leg cannot be grafted2 if a leg is cut off it must die4 ,it may1 however1 be maintained that the owner dies too1 even though he recovers1 for a man who has lost a leg is not the man he was4 #ib ,,vii ,on the ,making of ,music1 ,pictures and ,books ,thought and ,word i ,,thought pure and simple is as near to ,god as we can get2 it is through this that we are linked with ,god4 ,the highest thought is ineffable2 it must be felt from one person to another but cannot be articulated4 ,all the most essential and thinking part of thought is done without words or consciousness4 ,it is not till doubt and consciousness enter that words become possible4 ,the moment a thing is written1 or even can be written1 and reasoned about1 it has changed its nature by becoming tangible1 and hence finite1 and hence it will have an end in disintegration4 ,it has entered into death4 ,and yet till it can be thought about and realised more or less definitely it has not entered into life4 ,both life and death are necessary factors of each other4 ,but our profoundest and most important convictions are unspeakable4 ,so it is with unwritten and indefinable codes of honour1 conventions1 art-rules--things that can be felt but not explained--these are the most important1 and the less we try to understand them1 or even to think about them1 the better4 ii ,words are organised thoughts1 as living forms are organised actions4 ,how a thought can find embodiment in words is nearly1 though perhaps not quite1 as mysterious as how an action can find embodiment in form1 and appears to involve a somewhat analogous transformation and contradiction in terms4 ,there was a time when language was as rare an accomplishment as writing was in the days when it was first invented4 ,probably talking was originally confined to a few scholars1 as writing was in the middle ages1 and gradually became general4 ,even now speech is still growing2 poor folks cannot understand the talk of educated people4 ,perhaps reading and writing will indeed one day come by nature4 ,analogy points in this direction1 and though analogy is often misleading1 it is the least misleading thing we have4 iii ,communications between ,god and man must always be either above words or below them2 for with words come in translations1 and all the interminable questions therewith connected4 iv ,the mere fact that a thought or idea can be expressed articulately in words involves that it is still open to question2 and the mere fact that a difficulty can be definitely conceived involves that it is open to solution4 v ,we want words to do more than they can4 ,we try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop2 we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow4 ,nevertheless there they are2 we have got to live with them1 and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours1 and make the best and not the worst of them4 ,but they are parvenu people as compared with thought and action4 ,what we should read is not the words but the man whom we feel to be behind the words4 vi ,words impede and either kill1 or are killed by1 perfect thought2 but they are1 as a scaffolding1 useful1 if not indispensable1 for the building up of imperfect thought and helping to perfect it4 vii ,all words are juggles4 ,to call a thing a juggle of words is often a bigger juggle than the juggle it is intended to complain of4 ,the question is whether it is a greater juggle than is generally considered fair trading4 viii ,words are like money2 there is nothing so useless1 unless when in actual use4 ix ,gold and silver coins are only the tokens1 symbols1 outward and visible signs and sacraments of money4 ,when not in actual process of being applied in purchase they are no more money than words not in use are language4 ,books are like imprisoned souls until some one takes them down from a shelf and reads them4 ,the coins are potential money as the words are potential language1 it is the power and will to apply the counters that make them vibrate with life2 when the power and the will are in abeyance the counters lie dead as a log4 ,the ,law ,the written law is binding1 but the unwritten law is much more so4 ,you may break the written law at a pinch and on the sly if you can1 but the unwritten law--which often comprises the written--must not be broken4 ,not being written1 it is not always easy to know what it is1 but this has got to be done4 ,ideas ,they are like shadows--substantial enough until we try to grasp them4 ,expression ,the fact that every mental state is intensified by expression is of a piece with the fact that nothing has any existence at all save in its expression4 ,development ,all things are like exposed photographic plates that have no visible image on them till they have been developed4 ,acquired ,characteristics ,if there is any truth in the theory that these are inherited--and who can doubt it8--the eye and the finger are but the aspiration1 or word1 made manifest in flesh4 ,physical and ,spiritual ,the bodies of many abandoned undertakings lie rotting unburied up and down the country and their ghosts haunt the law-courts4 ,trail and ,writing ,before the invention of writing the range of one man's influence over another was limited to the range of sight1 sound and scent2 besides this there was trail1 of many kinds4 ,trail unintentionally left is1 as it were1 hidden sight4 ,left intentionally1 it is the unit of literature4 ,it is the first mode of writing1 from which grew that power of extending men's influence over one another by the help of written symbols of all kinds without which the development of modern civilisation would have been impossible4 ,conveyancing and the ,arts ,in conveyancing the ultimately potent thing is not the deed but the invisible intention and desire of the parties to the deed2 the written document itself is only evidence of this intention and desire4 ,so it is with music1 the written notes are not the main thing1 nor is even the heard performance2 these are only evidences of an internal invisible emotion that can be felt but never fully expressed4 ,and so it is with the words of literature and with the forms and colours of painting4 ,the ,rules for ,making ,literature1 ,music and ,pictures ,the arts of the musician1 the painter and the writer are essentially the same4 ,in composing a fugue1 after you have exposed your subject1 which must not be too unwieldly1 you introduce an episode or episodes which must arise out of your subject4 ,the great thing is that all shall be new1 and yet nothing new1 at the same time2 the details must minister to the main effect and not obscure it2 in other words1 you must have a subject1 develop it and not wander from it very far4 ,this holds just as true for literature and painting and for art of all kinds4 ,no man should try even to allude to the greater part of what he sees in his subject1 and there is hardly a limit to what he may omit4 ,what is required is that he shall say what he elects to say discreetly2 that he shall be quick to see the gist of a matter1 and give it pithily without either prolixity or stint of words4 ,relative ,importances ,it is the painter's business to help memory and imagination1 not to supersede them4 ,he cannot put the whole before the spectator1 nothing can do this short of the thing itself2 he should1 therefore1 not try to realise1 and the less he looks as if he were trying to do so the more signs of judgment he will show4 ,his business is to supply those details which will most readily bring the whole before the mind along with them4 ,he must not give too few1 but it is still more imperative on him not to give too many4 ,seeing1 thought and expression are rendered possible only by the fact that our minds are always ready to compromise and to take the part for the whole4 ,we associate a number of ideas with any given object1 and if a few of the most characteristic of these are put before us we take the rest as read1 jump to a conclusion and realise the whole4 ,if we did not conduct our thought on this principle--simplifying by suppression of detail and breadth of treatment--it would take us a twelvemonth to say that it was a fine morning and another for the hearer to apprehend our statement4 ,any other principle reduces thought to an absurdity4 ,all painting depends upon simplification4 ,all simplification depends upon a perception of relative importances4 ,all perception of relative importances depends upon a just appreciation of which letters in association's bond association will most readily dispense with4 ,this depends upon the sympathy of the painter both with his subject and with him who is to look at the picture4 ,and this depends upon a man's common sense4 ,he therefore tells best in painting1 as in literature1 who has best estimated the relative values or importances of the more special features characterising his subject3 that is to say1 who appreciates most accurately how much and how fast each one of them will carry1 and is at most pains to give those only that will say most in the fewest words or touches4 ,it is here that the most difficult1 the most important1 and the most generally neglected part of an artist's business will be found to lie4 ,the difficulties of doing are serious enough1 nevertheless we can most of us overcome them with ordinary perseverance for they are small as compared with those of knowing what not to do--with those of learning to disregard the incessant importunity of small nobody-details that persist in trying to thrust themselves above their betters4 ,it is less trouble to give in to these than to snub them duly and keep them in their proper places1 yet it is precisely here that strength or weakness resides4 ,it is success or failure in this respect that constitutes the difference between the artist who may claim to rank as a statesman and one who can rise no higher than a village vestryman4 ,it is here1 moreover1 that effort is most remunerative4 ,for when we feel that a painter has made simplicity and subordination of importances his first aim1 it is surprising how much shortcoming we will condone as regards actual execution4 ,whereas1 let the execution be perfect1 if the details given be ill-chosen in respect of relative importance the whole effect is lost--it becomes top-heavy1 as it were1 and collapses4 ,as for the number of details given1 this does not matter3 a man may give as few or as many as he chooses2 he may stop at outline1 or he may go on to ,jean ,van ,eyck2 what is essential is that1 no matter how far or how small a distance he may go1 he should have begun with the most important point and added each subsequent feature in due order of importance1 so that if he stopped at any moment there should be no detail ungiven more important than another which has been insisted on4 ,supposing1 by way of illustration1 that the details are as grapes in a bunch1 they should be eaten from the best grape to the next best1 and so on downwards1 never eating a worse grape while a better one remains uneaten4 ,personally1 ,i think that1 as the painter cannot go the whole way1 the sooner he makes it clear that he has no intention of trying to do so the better4 ,when we look at a very highly finished picture 7so called71 unless we are in the hands of one who has attended successfully to the considerations insisted on above1 we feel as though we were with a troublesome cicerone who will not let us look at things with our own eyes but keeps intruding himself at every touch and turn and trying to exercise that undue influence upon us which generally proves to have been the accompaniment of concealment and fraud4 ,this is exactly what we feel with ,van ,mieris and1 though in a less degree1 with ,gerard ,dow2 whereas with ,jean ,van ,eyck and ,metsu1 no matter how far they may have gone1 we find them essentially as impressionist as ,rembrandt or ,velasquez4 ,for impressionism only means that due attention has been paid to the relative importances of the impressions made by the various characteristics of a given subject1 and that they have been presented to us in order of precedence4 ,eating ,grapes ,downwards ,always eat grapes downwards--that is1 always eat the best grape first2 in this way there will be none better left on the bunch1 and each grape will seem good down to the last4 ,if you eat the other way1 you will not have a good grape in the lot4 ,besides1 you will be tempting ,providence to kill you before you come to the best4 ,this is why autumn seems better than spring3 in the autumn we are eating our days downwards1 in the spring each day still seems 8,very bad40 ,people should live on this principle more than they do1 but they do live on it a good deal2 from the age of1 say1 fifty we eat our days downwards4 ,in ,new ,zealand for a long time ,i had to do the washing-up after each meal4 ,i used to do the knives first1 for it might please ,god to take me before ,i came to the forks1 and then what a sell it would have been to have done the forks rather than the knives6 ,terseness ,talking with ,gogin last night1 ,i said that in writing it took more time and trouble to get a thing short than long4 ,he said it was the same in painting4 ,it was harder not to paint a detail than to paint it1 easier to put in all that one can see than to judge what may go without saying1 omit it and range the irreducible minima in due order of precedence4 ,hence we all lean towards prolixity4 ,the difficulty lies in the nice appreciation of relative importances and in the giving each detail neither more nor less than its due4 ,this is the difference between ,gerard ,dow and ,metsu4 ,gerard ,dow gives all he can1 but unreflectingly2 hence it does not reflect the subject effectively into the spectator4 ,we see it1 but it does not come home to us4 ,metsu on the other hand omits all he can1 but omits intelligently1 and his reflection excites responsive enthusiasm in ourselves4 ,we are continually trying to see as much as we can1 and to put it down4 ,more wisely we should consider how much we can avoid seeing and dispense with4 ,so it is also in music4 ,cherubini says the number of things that can be done in fugue with a very simple subject is endless1 but that the trouble lies in knowing which to choose from all these infinite possibilities4 ,as regards painting1 any one can paint anything in the minute manner with a little practice1 but it takes an exceedingly able man to paint so much as an egg broadly and simply4 ,bearing in mind the shortness of life and the complexity of affairs1 it stands to reason that we owe most to him who packs our trunks for us1 so to speak1 most intelligently1 neither omitting what we are likely to want1 nor including what we can dispense with1 and who1 at the same time1 arranges things so that they will travel most safely and be got at most conveniently4 ,so we speak of composition and arrangement in all arts4 ,making ,notes ,my notes always grow longer if ,i shorten them4 ,i mean the process of compression makes them more pregnant and they breed new notes4 ,i never try to lengthen them1 so ,i do not know whether they would grow shorter if ,i did4 ,perhaps that might be a good way of getting them shorter4 ,shortening ,a young author is tempted to leave anything he has written through fear of not having enough to say if he goes cutting out too freely4 ,but it is easier to be long than short4 ,i have always found compressing1 cutting out1 and tersifying a passage suggests more than anything else does4 ,things pruned off in this way are like the heads of the hydra1 two grow for every two that is lopped off4 ,omission ,if a writer will go on the principle of stopping everywhere and anywhere to put down his notes1 as the true painter will stop anywhere and everywhere to sketch1 he will be able to cut down his works liberally4 ,he will become prodigal not of writing--any fool can be this--but of omission4 ,you become brief because you have more things to say than time to say them in4 ,one of the chief arts is that of knowing what to neglect and the more talk increases the more necessary does this art become4 ,brevity ,handel's jig in the ninth ,suite de ,pieces1 in ,g minor1 is very fine but it is perhaps a little long4 ,probably ,handel was in a hurry1 for it takes much more time to get a thing short than to leave it a little long4 ,brevity is not only the soul of wit1 but the soul of making oneself agreeable and of getting on with people1 and1 indeed1 of everything that makes life worth living4 ,so precious a thing1 however1 cannot be got without more expense and trouble than most of us have the moral wealth to lay out4 ,diffuseness ,this sometimes helps1 as1 for instance1 when the subject is hard2 words that may be1 strictly speaking1 unnecessary still may make things easier for the reader by giving him more time to master the thought while his eye is running over the verbiage4 ,so1 a little water may prevent a strong drink from burning throat and stomach4 ,a style that is too terse is as fatiguing as one that is too diffuse4 ,but when a passage is written a little long1 with consciousness and compunction but still deliberately1 as what will probably be most easy for the reader1 it can hardly be called diffuse4 ,difficulties in ,art1 ,literature and ,music ,the difficult and the unintelligible are only conceivable at all in virtue of their catching on to something less difficult and less unintelligible and1 through this1 to things easily done and understood4 ,it is at these joints in their armour that difficulties should be attacked4 ,never tackle a serious difficulty as long as something which must be done1 and about which you see your way fairly well1 remains undone2 the settling of this is sure to throw light upon the way in which the serious difficulty is to be resolved4 ,it is doing the ,what-you-can that will best help you to do the ,what-you-cannot4 ,arrears of small things to be attended to1 if allowed to accumulate1 worry and depress like unpaid debts4 ,the main work should always stand aside for these1 not these for the main work1 as large debts should stand aside for small ones1 or truth for common charity and good feeling4 ,if we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do1 we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do4 ,knowledge is ,power ,yes1 but it must be practical knowledge4 ,there is nothing less powerful than knowledge unattached1 and incapable of application4 ,that is why what little knowledge ,i have has done myself personally so much harm4 ,i do not know much1 but if ,i knew a good deal less than that little ,i should be far more powerful4 ,the rule should be never to learn a thing till one is pretty sure one wants it1 or that one will want it before long so badly as not to be able to get on without it4 ,this is what sensible people do about money1 and there is no reason why people should throw away their time and trouble more than their money4 ,there are plenty of things that most boys would give their ears to know1 these and these only are the proper things for them to sharpen their wits upon4 ,if a boy is idle and does not want to learn anything at all1 the same principle should guide those who have the care of him--he should never be made to learn anything till it is pretty obvious that he cannot get on without it4 ,this will save trouble both to boys and teachers1 moreover it will be far more likely to increase a boy's desire to learn4 ,i know in my own case no earthly power could make me learn till ,i had my head given me2 and nothing has been able to stop me from incessant study from that day to this4 ,academicism ,handicapped people sometimes owe their success to the misfortune which weights them4 ,they seldom know beforehand how far they are going to reach1 and this helps them2 for if they knew the greatness of the task before them they would not attempt it4 ,he who knows he is infirm1 and would yet climb1 does not think of the summit which he believes to be beyond his reach but climbs slowly onwards1 taking very short steps1 looking below as often as he likes but not above him1 never trying his powers but seldom stopping1 and then1 sometimes1 behold6 he is on the top1 which he would never have even aimed at could he have seen it from below4 ,it is only in novels and sensational biographies that handicapped people1 8fired by a knowledge of the difficulties that others have overcome1 resolve to triumph over every obstacle by dint of sheer determination1 and in the end carry everything before them40 ,in real life the person who starts thus almost invariably fails4 ,this is the worst kind of start4 ,the greatest secret of good work whether in music1 literature or painting lies in not attempting too much2 if it be asked1 8,what is too much80 the answer is1 8,anything that we find difficult or unpleasant40 ,we should not ask whether others find this same thing difficult or no4 ,if we find the difficulty so great that the overcoming it is a labour and not a pleasure1 we should either change our aim altogether1 or aim1 at any rate for a time1 at some lower point4 ,it must be remembered that no work is required to be more than right as far as it goes2 the greatest work cannot get beyond this and the least comes strangely near the greatest if this can be said of it4 ,the more ,i see of academicism the more ,i distrust it4 ,if ,i had approached painting as ,i have approached bookwriting and music1 that is to say by beginning at once to do what ,i wanted1 or as near as ,i could to what ,i could find out of this1 and taking pains not by way of solving academic difficulties1 in order to provide against practical ones1 but by waiting till a difficulty arose in practice and then tackling it1 thus making the arising of each difficulty be the occasion for learning what had to be learnt about it--if ,i had approached painting in this way ,i should have been all right4 ,as it is ,i have been all wrong1 and it was ,south ,kensington and ,heatherley's that set me wrong4 ,i listened to the nonsense about how ,i ought to study before beginning to paint1 and about never painting without nature1 and the result was that ,i learned to study but not to paint4 ,now ,i have got too much to do and am too old to do what ,i might easily have done1 and should have done1 if ,i had found out earlier what writing ,life and ,habit was the chief thing to teach me4 ,so ,i painted study after study1 as a priest reads his breviary1 and at the end of ten years knew no more what the face of nature was like1 unless ,i had it immediately before me1 than ,i did at the beginning4 ,i am free to confess that in respect of painting ,i am a failure4 ,i have spent far more time on painting than ,i have on anything else1 and have failed at it more than ,i have failed in any other respect almost solely for the reasons given above4 ,i tried very hard1 but ,i tried the wrong way4 ,fortunately for me there are no academies for teaching people how to write books1 or ,i should have fallen into them as ,i did into those for painting and1 instead of writing1 should have spent my time and money in being told that ,i was learning how to write4 ,if ,i had one thing to say to students before ,i died 7,i mean1 if ,i had got to die1 but might tell students one thing first7 ,i should say3-- 8,don't learn to do1 but learn in doing4 ,let your falls not be on a prepared ground1 but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world2 only1 of course1 let them be on a small scale in the first instance till you feel your feet safe under you4 ,act more and rehearse less40 ,a friend once asked me whether ,i liked writing books1 composing music or painting pictures best4 ,i said ,i did not know4 ,i like them all2 but ,i never find time to paint a picture now and only do small sketches and studies4 ,i know in which ,i am strongest--writing2 ,i know in which ,i am weakest--painting2 ,i am weakest where ,i have taken most pains and studied most4 ,agonising ,in art1 never try to find out anything1 or try to learn anything until the not knowing it has come to be a nuisance to you for some time4 ,then you will remember it1 but not otherwise4 ,let knowledge importune you before you will hear it4 ,our schools and universities go on the precisely opposite system4 ,never consciously agonise2 the race is not to the swift1 nor the battle to the strong4 ,moments of extreme issue are unconscious and must be left to take care of themselves4 ,during conscious moments take reasonable pains but no more and1 above all1 work so slowly as never to get out of breath4 ,take it easy1 in fact1 until forced not to do so4 ,there is no mystery about art4 ,do the things that you can see2 they will show you those that you cannot see4 ,by doing what you can you will gradually get to know what it is that you want to do and cannot do1 and so to be able to do it4 ,the ,choice of ,subjects ,do not hunt for subjects1 let them choose you1 not you them4 ,only do that which insists upon being done and runs right up against you1 hitting you in the eye until you do it4 ,this calls you and you had better attend to it1 and do it as well as you can4 ,but till called in this way do nothing4 ,imaginary ,countries ,each man's mind is an unknown land to himself1 so that we need not be at such pains to frame a mechanism of adventure for getting to undiscovered countries4 ,we have not far to go before we reach them4 ,they are1 like the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 within us4 ,my ,books ,i never make them3 they grow2 they come to me and insist on being written1 and on being such and such4 ,i did not want to write ,erewhon1 ,i wanted to go on painting and found it an abominable nuisance being dragged willy-nilly into writing it4 ,so with all my books--the subjects were never of my own choosing2 they pressed themselves upon me with more force than ,i could resist4 ,if ,i had not liked the subjects ,i should have kicked1 and nothing would have got me to do them at all4 ,as ,i did like the subjects and the books came and said they were to be written1 ,i grumbled a little and wrote them4 #ajf ,great ,works ,these have always something of the 8de profundis0 about them4 ,new ,ideas ,every new idea has something of the pain and peril of childbirth about it2 ideas are just as mortal and just as immortal as organised beings are4 ,books and ,children ,if the literary offspring is not to die young1 almost as much trouble must be taken with it as with the bringing up of a physical child4 ,still1 the physical child is the harder work of the two4 ,the ,life of ,books ,some writers think about the life of books as some savages think about the life of men--that there are books which never die4 ,they all die sooner or later2 but that will not hinder an author from trying to give his book as long a life as he can get for it4 ,the fact that it will have to die is no valid reason for letting it die sooner than can be helped4 ,criticism ,critics generally come to be critics by reason not of their fitness for this but of their unfitness for anything else4 ,books should be tried by a judge and jury as though they were crimes1 and counsel should be heard on both sides4 ,le ,style c'est l',homme ,it is with books1 music1 painting and all the arts as with children--only those live that have drained much of their author's own life into them4 ,the personality of the author is what interests us more than his work4 ,when we have once got well hold of the personality of the author we care comparatively little about the history of the work or what it means or even its technique2 we enjoy the work without thinking of more than its beauty1 and of how much we like the workman4 8,le style c'est l'homme0--that style of which1 if ,i may quote from memory1 ,buffon1 again1 says that it is like happiness1 and 8vient de la douceur de l'me0 #ajg--;and we care more about knowing what kind of person a man was than about knowing of his achievements1 no matter how considerable they may have been4 ,if he has made it clear that he was trying to do what we like1 and meant what we should like him to have meant1 it is enough2 but if the work does not attract us to the workman1 neither does it attract us to itself4 ,portraits ,a great portrait is always more a portrait of the painter than of the painted4 ,when we look at a portrait by ,holbein or ,rembrandt it is of ,holbein or ,rembrandt that we think more than of the subject of their picture4 ,even a portrait of ,shakespeare by ,holbein or ,rembrandt could tell us very little about ,shakespeare4 ,it would1 however1 tell us a great deal about ,holbein or ,rembrandt4 ,a ,man's ,style ,a man's style in any art should be like his dress--it should attract as little attention as possible4 ,the ,gauntlet of ,youth ,everything that is to age well must have run the gauntlet of its youth4 ,hardly ever does a work of art hold its own against time if it was not treated somewhat savagely at first--,i should say 8artist0 rather than 8work of art40 ,greatness in ,art ,if a work of art--music1 literature or painting--is for all time1 it must be independent of the conventions1 dialects1 costumes and fashions of any time2 if not great without help from such unessential accessories1 no help from them can greaten it4 ,a man must wear the dress of his own time1 but no dressing can make a strong man of a weak one4 ,literary ,power ,they say the test of this is whether a man can write an inscription4 ,i say 8,can he name a kitten80 ,and by this test ,i am condemned1 for ,i cannot4 ,subject and ,treatment ,it is often said that treatment is more important than subject1 but no treatment can make a repulsive subject not repulsive4 ,it can make a trivial1 or even a stupid1 subject interesting1 but a really bad flaw in a subject cannot be treated out4 ,happily the man who has sense enough to treat a subject well will generally have sense enough to choose a good one1 so that the case of a really repulsive subject treated in a masterly manner does not often arise4 ,it is often said to have arisen1 but in nine cases out of ten the treatment will be found to have been overpraised4 ,public ,opinion ,people say how strong it is2 and indeed it is strong while it is in its prime4 ,in its childhood and old age it is as weak as any other organism4 ,i try to make my own work belong to the youth of a public opinion4 ,the history of the world is the record of the weakness1 frailty and death of public opinion1 as geology is the record of the decay of those bodily organisms in which opinions have found material expression4 ,a ,literary ,man's ,test ,molire's reading to his housemaid has1 ,i think1 been misunderstood as though he in some way wanted to see the effect upon the housemaid and make her a judge of his work4 ,if she was an unusually clever1 smart girl1 this might be well enough1 but the supposition commonly is that she was a typical housemaid and nothing more4 ,if ,molire ever did read to her1 it was because the mere act of reading aloud put his work before him in a new light and1 by constraining his attention to every line1 made him judge it more rigorously4 ,i always intend to read1 and generally do read1 what ,i write aloud to some one2 any one almost will do1 but he should not be so clever that ,i am afraid of him4 ,i feel weak places at once when ,i read aloud where ,i thought1 as long as ,i read to myself only1 that the passage was all right4 ,what ,audience to ,write for ,people between the ages of twenty and thirty read a good deal1 after thirty their reading drops off and by forty is confined to each person's special subject1 newspapers and magazines2 so that the most important part of one's audience1 and that which should be mainly written for1 consists of specialists and people between twenty and thirty4 ,writing for a ,hundred ,years ,hence ,when a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing1 it will often guide him if he asks himself how it will tell a hundred years hence4 ,,viii ,handel and ,music ,handel and ,beethoven ,,as a boy1 from #ab years old or so1 ,i always worshipped ,handel4 ,beethoven was a terra incognita to me till ,i went up to ,cambridge2 ,i knew and liked a few of his waltzes but did not so much as know that he had written any sonatas or symphonies4 ,at ,cambridge ,sykes tried to teach me ,beethoven but ,i disliked his music and would go away as soon as ,sykes began with any of his sonatas4 ,after a long while ,i began to like some of the slow movements and then some entire sonatas1 several of which ,i could play once fairly well without notes4 ,i used also to play ,bach and ,mendelssohn's ,songs without ,words and thought them lovely1 but ,i always liked ,handel best4 ,little by little1 however1 ,i was talked over into placing ,bach and ,beethoven on a par as the greatest and ,i said ,i did not know which was the best man4 ,i cannot tell now whether ,i really liked ,beethoven or found myself carried away by the strength of the ,beethoven current which surrounded me2 at any rate ,i spent a great deal of time on him1 for some ten or a dozen years4 ,one night1 when ,i was about #cj1 ,i was at an evening party at ,mrs4 ,longden's and met an old ,west ,end clergyman of the name of ,smalley 7,rector1 ,i think1 of ,bayswater74 ,i said ,i did not know which was greatest ,handel1 ,bach or ,beethoven4 ,he said3 8,i am surprised at that2 ,i should have thought you would have known40 8,which10 said ,i1 8is the greatest80 8,handel40 ,i knew he was right and have never wavered since4 ,i suppose ,i was really of this opinion already1 but it was not till ,i got a little touch from outside that ,i knew it4 ,from that moment ,beethoven began to go back1 and now ,i feel towards him much as ,i did when ,i first heard his work1 except1 of course1 that ,i see a gnosis in him of which as a young man ,i knew nothing4 ,but ,i do not greatly care about gnosis1 ,i want agape2 and ,beethoven's agape is not the healthy robust tenderness of ,handel1 it is a sickly maudlin thing in comparison4 ,anyhow ,i do not like him4 ,i like ,mozart and ,haydn better1 but not so much better as ,i should like to like them4 ,handel and ,domenico ,scarlatti ,handel and ,domenico ,scarlatti were contemporaries almost to a year1 both as regards birth and death4 ,they knew each other very well in ,italy and ,scarlatti never mentioned ,handel's name without crossing himself1 but ,i have not heard that ,handel crossed himself at the mention of ,scarlatti's name4 ,i know very little of ,scarlatti's music and have not even that little well enough in my head to write about it2 ,i retain only a residuary impression that it is often very charming and links ,haydn with ,bach1 moreover that it is distinctly un-,handelian4 ,handel must have known and comprehended ,scarlatti's tendencies perfectly well3 his rejection1 therefore1 of the principles that lead to them must have been deliberate4 ,scarlatti leads to ,haydn1 ,haydn to ,mozart and hence1 through ,beethoven1 to modern music4 ,that ,handel foresaw this ,i do not doubt1 nor yet that he felt1 as ,i do myself1 that modern music means something1 ,i know not what1 which is not what ,i mean by music4 ,it is playing another game and has set itself aims which1 no doubt1 are excellent but which are not mine4 ,of course ,i know that this may be all wrong3 ,i know how very limited and superficial my own acquaintance with music is4 ,still ,i have a strong feeling as though from ,john ,dunstable1 or whoever it may have been1 to ,handel the tide of music was rising1 intermittently no doubt but still rising1 and that since ,handel's time it has been falling4 ,or1 rather perhaps ,i should say that music bifurcated with ,handel and ,bach--,handel dying musically as well as physically childless1 while ,bach was as prolific in respect of musical disciples as he was in that of children4 ,what1 then1 was it1 supposing ,i am right at all1 that ,handel distrusted in the principles of ,scarlatti as deduced from those of ,bach8 ,i imagine that he distrusted chiefly the abuse of the appoggiatura1 the abuse of the unlimited power of modulation which equal temperament placed at the musician's disposition and departure from well-marked rhythm1 beat or measured tread4 ,at any rate ,i believe the music ,i like best myself to be sparing of the appoggiatura1 to keep pretty close to tonic and dominant and to have a well-marked beat1 measure and rhythm4 ,handel and ,homer ,handel was a greater man than ,homer 7,i mean the author of the ,iliad72 but the very people who are most angry with me for 7as they incorrectly suppose7 sneering at ,homer are generally the ones who never miss an opportunity of cheapening and belittling ,handel1 and1 which is very painful to myself1 they say ,i was laughing at him in ,narcissus4 ,perhaps--but surely one can laugh at a person and adore him at the same time4 ,handel and ,bach i ,if you tie ,handel's hands by debarring him from the rendering of human emotion1 and if you set ,bach's free by giving him no human emotion to render--if1 in fact1 you rob ,handel of his opportunities and ,bach of his difficulties--the two men can fight after a fashion1 but ,handel will even so come off victorious4 ,otherwise it is absurd to let ,bach compete at all4 ,nevertheless the cultured vulgar have at all times preferred gymnastics and display to reticence and the healthy1 graceful1 normal movements of a man of birth and education1 and ,bach is esteemed a more profound musician than ,handel in virtue of his frequent and more involved complexity of construction4 ,in reality ,handel was profound enough to eschew such wildernesses of counterpoint as ,bach instinctively resorted to1 but he knew also that public opinion would be sure to place ,bach on a level with himself1 if not above him1 and this probably made him look askance at ,bach4 ,at any rate he twice went to ,germany without being at any pains to meet him1 and once1 if not twice1 refused ,bach's invitation4 ii ,rockstro says that ,handel keeps much more closely to the old ,palestrina rules of counterpoint than ,bach does1 and that when ,handel takes a licence it is a good bold one taken rarely1 whereas ,bach is niggling away with small licences from first to last4 ,handel and the ,british ,public ,people say the generous ,british public supported ,handel4 ,it did nothing of the kind4 ,on the contrary1 for some #cj years it did its best to ruin him1 twice drove him to bankruptcy1 badgered him till in #agcg he had a paralytic seizure which was as near as might be the death of him and1 if he had died then1 we should have no ,israel1 nor ,messiah1 nor ,samson1 nor any of his greatest oratorios4 ,the ,british public only relented when he had become old and presently blind4 ,handel1 by the way1 is a rare instance of a man doing his greatest work subsequently to an attack of paralysis4 ,what kept ,handel up was not the public but the court4 ,it was the pensions given him by ,george ,i and ,george ,,ii that enabled him to carry on at all4 ,so that1 in point of fact1 it is to these two very prosaic kings that we owe the finest musical poems the world knows anything about4 ,handel and ,madame ,patey ,rockstro told me that ,sir ,michael ,costa1 after his severe paralytic stroke1 had to conduct at some great performance--,i cannot be sure1 but ,i think he said a ,birmingham ,festival--at any rate he came in looking very white and feeble and sat down in front of the orchestra to conduct a morning rehearsal4 ,madame ,patey was there1 went up to the poor old gentleman and kissed his forehead4 ,it is a curious thing about this great singer that not only should she have been 7as she has always seemed to me7 strikingly like ,handel in the face1 and not only should she have been such an incomparable renderer of ,handel's music--,i cannot think that ,i shall ever again hear any one who seemed to have the spirit of ,handel's music so thoroughly penetrating his or her whole being--but that she should have been struck with paralysis at1 so far as ,i can remember1 the same age that ,handel was4 ,handel was struck in #agcg when he was #ec years old1 but happily recovered4 ,i forget ,madame ,patey's exact age1 but it was somewhere about this4 ,handel and ,shakespeare ,jones and ,i had been listening to ,gaetano ,meo's girls playing ,handel and were talking about him and ,shakespeare1 and how those two men can alike stir us more than any one else can4 ,neither were self-conscious in production1 but when the thing had come out ,shakespeare looks at it and wonders1 whereas ,handel takes it as a matter of course4 ,a ,yankee ,handelian ,i only ever met one ,american who seemed to like and understand ,handel4 ,how far he did so in reality ,i do not know1 but inter alia he said that ,handel 8struck ile with the ,messiah10 and that 8it panned out well1 the ,messiah did40 ,waste ,handel and ,shakespeare have left us the best that any have left us2 yet1 in spite of this1 how much of their lives was wasted4 ,fancy ,handel expending himself upon the ,moabites and ,ammonites1 or even the ,jews themselves1 year after year1 as he did in the fulness of his power2 and fancy what we might have had from ,shakespeare if he had gossipped to us about himself and his times and the people he met in ,london and at ,stratford-on-,avon instead of writing some of what he did write4 ,nevertheless we have the men1 seen through their work notwithstanding their subjects1 who stand and live to us4 ,it is the figure of ,handel as a man1 and of ,shakespeare as a man1 which we value even more than their work4 ,i feel the presence of ,handel behind every note of his music4 ,handel a ,conservative ,he left no school because he was a protest4 ,there were men in his time1 whose music he perfectly well knew1 who are far more modern than ,handel4 ,he was opposed to the musically radical tendencies of his age and1 as a musician1 was a decided conservative in all essential respects--though ready1 of course1 to go any length in any direction if he had a fancy at the moment for doing so4 ,handel and ,ernest ,pontifex ,it cost me a great deal to make ,ernest in ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh play ,beethoven and ,mendelssohn2 ,i did it simply ad captandum4 ,as a matter of fact he played only the music of ,handel and of the early ,italian and old ,english composers--but ,handel most of all4 ,handel's ,commonplaces ,it takes as great a composer as ,handel--or rather it would take as great a composer if he could be found--to be able to be as easily and triumphantly commonplace as ,handel often is1 just as it takes--or rather would take--as great a composer as ,handel to write another ,hallelujah chorus4 ,it is only the man who can do the latter who can do the former as ,handel has done it4 ,handel is so great and so simple that no one but a professional musician is unable to understand him4 ,handel and ,dr4 ,morell ,after all1 ,dr4 ,morell suited ,handel exactly well--far better than ,tennyson would have done4 ,i don't believe even ,handel could have set ,tennyson to music comfortably4 ,what a mercy it is that he did not live in ,handel's time6 ,even though ,handel had set him ever so well he would have spoiled the music1 and this ,dr4 ,morell does not in the least do4 ,wordsworth ,and ,i have been as far as ,hull to see ,what clothes he left or other property4 ,i am told that these lines occur in a poem by ,wordsworth4 7,think of the expense67 ,how thankful we ought to be that ,wordsworth was only a poet and not a musician4 ,fancy a symphony by ,wordsworth6 ,fancy having to sit it out6 ,and fancy what it would have been if he had written fugues6 ,sleeping ,beauties ,there are plenty of them4 ,take ,handel2 look at such an air as 8,loathsome urns1 disclose your treasure0 or 8,come1 ,o ,time1 and thy broad wings displaying10 both in ,the ,triumph of ,time and ,truth1 or at 8,convey me to some peaceful shore10 in ,alexander ,balus1 especially when he comes to 8,forgetting and forgot the will of fate40 ,who know these8 ,and yet1 can human genius do more8 8,and the ,glory of the ,lord0 ,it would be hard to find a more satisfactory chorus even in the ,messiah1 but ,i do not think the music was originally intended for these words3 ,picture3 ,music score3 ,and the glory1 the glory of the ,lord ,if ,handel had approached these words without having in his head a subject the spirit of which would do1 and which he thought the words with a little management might be made to fit1 he would not1 ,i think1 have repeated 8the glory0 at all1 or at any rate not here4 ,if these words had been measured1 as it were1 for a new suit instead of being1 as ,i suppose1 furnished with a good second-hand one1 the word 8the0 would not have been tacked on to the 8glory0 which precedes it and made to belong to it rather than to the 8glory0 which follows4 ,it does not matter one straw1 and if ,handel had asked me whether ,i minded his forcing the words a little1 ,i should have said1 8,certainly not1 nor more than a little1 if you like40 ,nevertheless ,i think as a matter of fact that there is a little forcing4 ,i remember that as a boy this always struck me as a strange arrangement of the words1 but it was not until ,i came to write a chorus myself that ,i saw how it came about4 ,i do not suspect any forcing when it comes to 8,and all flesh shall see it together40 ,handel and the ,speaking ,voice ,picture3 ,music scores3 ,while now without measure we revel in pleasure4 ,with their vain mysterios art ,the former of these two extracts is from the chorus 8,venus laughing from the skies0 in ,theodora2 the other is from the air 8,wise men flattering0 in ,judas ,maccabus4 ,i know no better examples of the way ,handel sometimes derives his melody from the natural intonation of the speaking voice4 ,the 8pleasure0 7in bar four of the chorus7 suggests a man saying 8with pleasure0 when accepting an invitation to dinner4 ,of course one can say1 8with pleasure0 in a variety of tones1 but a sudden exaltation on the second syllable is very common4 ,in the other example1 the first bar of the accompaniment puts the argument in a most persuasive manner2 the second simply re-states it2 the third is the clincher1 ,i cannot understand any man's holding out against bar three4 ,the fourth bar re-states the clincher1 but at a lower pitch1 as by one who is quite satisfied that he has convinced his adversary4 ,handel and the ,wetterhorn ,when last ,i saw the ,wetterhorn ,i caught myself involuntarily humming3-- ,picture3 ,music score3 ,and the government shall be upon his shoulder ,the big shoulder of the ,wetterhorn seemed to fall just like the run on 8shoulder40 8,tyrants now no more shall ,dread0 ,the music to this chorus in ,hercules is written from the tyrant's point of view4 ,this is plain from the jubilant defiance with which the chorus opens1 and becomes still plainer when the magnificent strain to which he has set the words 8,all fear of punishment1 all fear is o'er0 bursts upon us4 ,here he flings aside all considerations save that of the gospel of doing whatever we please without having to pay for it4 ,he has1 however1 remembered himself and become almost puritanical over 8,the world's avenger is no more40 ,here he is quite proper4 ,from a dramatic point of view ,handel's treatment of these words must be condemned for reasons in respect of which ,handel was very rarely at fault4 ,it puzzles the listener who expects the words to be treated from the point of view of the vanquished slaves and not from that of the tyrants4 ,there is no pretence that these particular tyrants are not so bad as ordinary tyrants1 nor these particular vanquished slaves not so good as ordinary vanquished slaves1 and1 unless this has been made clear in some way1 it is dramatically de rigueur that the tyrants should come to grief1 or be about to come to grief4 ,the hearer should know which way his sympathies are expected to go1 and here we have the music dragging us one way and the words another4 ,nevertheless1 we pardon the departure from the strict rules of the game1 partly because of the welcome nature of good tidings so exultantly announced to us about all fear of punishment being o'er1 and partly because the music is1 throughout1 so much stronger than the words that we lose sight of them almost entirely4 ,handel probably wrote as he did from a profound1 though perhaps unconscious1 perception of the fact that even in his day there was a great deal of humanitarian nonsense talked and that1 after all1 the tyrants were generally quite as good sort of people as the vanquished slaves4 ,having begun on this tack1 it was easy to throw morality to the winds when he came to the words about all fear of punishment being over4 ,handel and ,marriage ,to man ,god's universal law ,gave power to keep the wife in awe sings ,handel in a comically dogmatic little chorus in ,samson4 ,but the universality of the law must be held to have failed in the case of ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,m',culloch4 ,handel and a ,letter to a ,solicitor ,jones showed me a letter that had been received by the solicitor in whose office he was working3 8,dear ,sir2 ,i enclose the name of the lawyer of the lady ,i am engaged to and her name and address are ,miss ,b4 ,richmond4 ,his address is ,w4 ,w4 ,esq4 ,manchester4 8,i remain1 ,yours truly ,w4 ,d4 ,c40 ,i said it reminded me of the opening bars of 8,welcome1 welcome1 ,mighty ,king0 in ,saul3 ,picture3 ,music score ,handel's ,shower of ,rain ,the falling shower in the air 8,as cheers the sun0 in ,joshua is1 ,i think1 the finest description of a warm sunny refreshing rain that ,i have ever come across and one of the most wonderfully descriptive pieces of music that even ,handel ever did4 ,theodora and ,susanna ,in my preface to ,evolution ,old and ,new ,i imply a certain dissatisfaction with ,theodora and ,susanna1 and imply also that ,handel himself was so far dissatisfied that in his next work1 ,jephtha 7which ,i see ,i inadvertently called his last71 he returned to his earlier manner4 ,it is true that these works are not in ,handel's usual manner2 they are more difficult and more in the style of ,bach4 ,i am glad that ,handel gave us these two examples of a slightly 7for it is not much7 varied manner and ,i am interested to observe that he did not adhere to that manner in ,jephtha1 but ,i should be sorry to convey an impression that ,i think ,theodora and ,susanna are in any way unworthy of ,handel4 ,i prefer both to ,judas ,maccabus which1 in spite of the many fine things it contains1 ,i like perhaps the least of all his oratorios4 ,i have played ,theodora and ,susanna all through1 and most parts 7except the recitatives7 many times over1 ,jones and ,i have gone through them again and again2 ,i have heard ,susanna performed once1 and ,theodora twice1 and ,i find no single piece in either work which ,i do not admire1 while many are as good as anything which it is in my power to conceive4 ,i like the chorus 8,he saw the lovely youth0 the least of anything in ,theodora so far as ,i remember at this moment1 but knowing it to have been a favourite with ,handel himself ,i am sure that ,i must have missed understanding it4 ,how comes it1 ,i wonder1 that the chorale-like air 8,blessing1 ,honour1 ,adoration0 is omitted in ,novello's edition8 ,it is given in ,clarke's edition and is very beautiful4 ,jones says of 8,with darkness deep01 that in the accompaniment to this air the monotony of dazed grief is just varied now and again with a little writhing passage4 ,whether ,handel meant this or no1 the interpretation put upon the passage fits the feeling of the air4 ,john ,sebastian ,bach ,it is imputed to him for righteousness that he goes over the heads of the general public and appeals mainly to musicians4 ,but the greatest men do not go over the heads of the masses1 they take them rather by the hand4 ,the true musician would not snub so much as a musical critic4 ,his instinct is towards the man in the street rather than the ,academy4 ,perhaps ,i say this as being myself a man in the street musically4 ,i do not know1 but ,i know that ,bach does not appeal to me and that ,i do appeal from ,bach to the man in the street and not to the ,academy1 because ,i believe the first of these to be the sounder4 ,still1 ,i own ,bach does appeal to me sometimes4 ,in my own poor music ,i have taken passages from him before now1 and have my eye on others which ,i have no doubt will suit me somewhere4 ,whether ,bach would know them again when ,i have worked my will on them1 and much more whether he would own them1 ,i neither know nor care4 ,i take or leave as ,i choose1 and alter or leave untouched as ,i choose4 ,i prefer my music to be an outgrowth from a germ whose source ,i know1 rather than a waif and stray which ,i fancy to be my own child when it was all the time begotten of a barrel organ4 ,it is a wise tune that knows its own father and ,i like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents4 ,roughly1 however1 as ,i have said over and over again1 if ,i think something that ,i know and greatly like in music1 no matter whose1 is appropriate1 ,i appropriate it4 ,i should say ,i was under most obligations to ,handel1 ,purcell and ,beethoven4 ,for example1 any one who looked at my song 8,man in ,vain0 in ,ulysses might think it was taken from 8,batti1 batti40 ,i should like to say it was taken from1 or suggested by1 a few bars in the opening of ,beethoven's pianoforte sonata op4 #gh1 and a few bars in the accompaniment to the duet 8,hark how the ,songsters0 in ,purcell's ,timon of ,athens4 ,i am not aware of having borrowed more in the song than what follows as natural development of these two passages which run thus3 ,picture3 ,music score by ,beethoven then ,purcell ,from the pianoforte arrangement in ,the ,beauties of ,purcell by ,john ,clarke1 ,mus4 ,doc4 ,honesty ,honesty consists not in never stealing but in knowing where to stop in stealing1 and how to make good use of what one does steal4 ,it is only great proprietors who can steal well and wisely4 ,a good stealer1 a good user of what he takes1 is ipso facto a good inventor4 ,two men can invent after a fashion to one who knows how to make the best use of what has been done already4 ,musical ,criticism ,i went to the ,bach ,choir concert and heard ,mozart's ,requiem4 ,i did not rise warmly to it4 ,then ,i heard an extract from ,parsifal which ,i disliked very much4 ,if ,bach wriggles1 ,wagner writhes4 ,yet next morning in the ,times ,i saw this able1 heartless failure1 compact of gnosis as much as any one pleases but without one spark of either true pathos or true humour1 called 8the crowning achievement of dramatic music40 ,the writer continues3 8,to the unintelligent1 music of this order does not appeal02 which only means 8,i am intelligent and you had better think as ,i tell you40 ,i am glad that such people should call ,handel a thieving plagiarist4 ,on ,borrowing in ,music ,in books it is easy to make mention of the forgotten dead to whom we are indebted1 and to acknowledge an obligation at the same time and place that we incur it4 ,the more original a writer is1 the more pleasure will he take in calling attention to the forgotten work of those who have gone before him4 ,the conventions of painting and music1 on the other hand1 while they admit of borrowing no less freely than literature does1 do not admit of acknowledgement2 it is impossible to interrupt a piece of music1 or paint some words upon a picture to explain that the composer or painter was at such and such a point indebted to such and such a source for his inspiration1 but it is not less impossible to avoid occasionally borrowing1 or rather taking1 for there is no need of euphemism1 from earlier work4 ,where1 then1 is the line to be drawn between lawful and unlawful adoption of what has been done by others8 ,this question is such a nice one that there are almost as many opinions upon it as there are painters and musicians4 ,to leave painting on one side1 if a musician wants some forgotten passage in an earlier writer1 is he1 knowing where this sleeping beauty lies1 to let it sleep on unknown and unenjoyed1 or shall he not rather wake it and take it--as likely enough the earlier master did before him--with1 or without modification8 ,it may be said this should be done by republishing the original work with its composer's name1 giving him his due laurels4 ,so it should1 if the work will bear it2 but more commonly times will have so changed that it will not4 ,a composer may want a bar1 or bar and a half1 out of1 say1 a dozen pages--he may not want even this much without more or less modification--is he to be told that he must republish the ten or dozen original pages within which the passage he wants lies buried1 as the only righteous way of giving it new life8 ,no one should be allowed such dog-in-the-manger-like ownership in beauty that because it has once been revealed to him therefore none for ever after shall enjoy it unless he be their cicerone4 ,if this rule were sanctioned1 he who first produced anything beautiful would sign its death warrant for an earlier or later date1 or at best would tether that which should forthwith begin putting girdles round the world4 ,beauty lives not for the self-glorification of the priests of any art1 but for the enjoyment of priests and laity alike4 ,he is the best art-priest who brings most beauty most home to the hearts of most men4 ,if any one tells an artist that part of what he has brought home is not his but another's1 8,yea1 let him take all10 should be his answer4 ,he should know no self in the matter4 ,he is a fisher of men's hearts from love of winning them1 and baits his hook with what will best take them without much heed where he gets it from4 ,he can gain nothing by offering people what they know or ought to know already1 he will not therefore take from the living or lately dead2 for the same reason he will instinctively avoid anything with which his hearers will be familiar1 except as recognised common form1 but beyond these limits he should take freely even as he hopes to be one day taken from4 ,true1 there is a hidden mocking spirit in things which ensures that he alone can take well who can also make well1 but it is no less true that he alone makes well who takes well4 ,a man must command all the resources of his art1 and of these none is greater than knowledge of what has been done by predecessors4 ,what1 ,i wonder1 may he take from these--how may he build himself upon them and grow out of them--if he is to make it his chief business to steer clear of them8 ,a safer canon is that the development of a musician should be like that of a fugue or first movement1 in which1 the subject having been enounced1 it is essential that thenceforward everything shall be both new and old at one and the same time--new1 but not too new--old1 but not too old4 ,indeed no musician can be original in respect of any large percentage of his work4 ,for independently of his turning to his own use the past labour involved in musical notation1 which he makes his own as of right without more thanks to those who thought it out than we give to him who invented wheels when we hire a cab1 independently of this1 it is surprising how large a part even of the most original music consists of common form scale passages1 and closes4 ,mutatis mutandis1 the same holds good with even the most original book or picture2 these passages or forms are as light and air1 common to all of us2 but the principle having been once admitted that some parts of a man's work cannot be original--not1 that is to say1 if he has descended with only a reasonable amount of modification--where is the line to be drawn8 ,where does common form begin and end8 ,the answer is that it is not mere familiarity that should forbid borrowing1 but familiarity with a passage as associated with special surroundings4 ,if certain musical progressions are already associated with many different sets of antecedents and consequents1 they have no special association1 except in so far as they may be connected with a school or epoch2 no one1 therefore1 is offended at finding them associated with one set the more4 ,familiarity beyond a certain point ceases to be familiarity1 or at any rate ceases to be open to the objections that lie against that which1 though familiar1 is still not familiar as common form4 ,those on the other hand who hold that a musician should never knowingly borrow will doubtless say that common form passages are an obvious and notorious exception to their rule1 and the one the limits of which are easily recognised in practice however hard it may be to define them neatly on paper4 ,it is not suggested that when a musician wants to compose an air or chorus he is to cast about for some little-known similar piece and lay it under contribution4 ,this is not to spring from the loins of living ancestors but to batten on dead men's bones4 ,he who takes thus will ere long lose even what little power to take he may have ever had4 ,on the other hand there is no enjoyable work in any art which is not easily recognised as the affiliated outcome of something that has gone before it4 ,this is more especially true of music1 whose grammar and stock in trade are so much simpler than those of any other art4 ,he who loves music will know what the best men have done1 and hence will have numberless passages from older writers floating at all times in his mind1 like germs in the air1 ready to hook themselves on to anything of an associated character4 ,some of these he will reject at once1 as already too strongly wedded to associations of their own2 some are tried and found not so suitable as was thought2 some one1 however1 will probably soon assert itself as either suitable1 or easily altered so as to become exactly what is wanted2 if1 indeed1 it is the right passage in the right man's mind1 it will have modified itself unbidden already4 ,how1 then1 let me ask again1 is the musician to comport himself towards those uninvited guests of his thoughts8 ,is he to give them shelter1 cherish them1 and be thankful8 or is he to shake them rudely off1 bid them begone1 and go out of his way so as not to fall in with them again8 ,can there be a doubt what the answer to this question should be8 ,as it is fatal deliberately to steer on to the work of other composers1 so it is no less fatal deliberately to steer clear of it2 music to be of any value must be a man's freest and most instinctive expression4 ,instinct in the case of all the greatest artists1 whatever their art may be1 bids them attach themselves to1 and grow out of those predecessors who are most congenial to them4 ,beethoven grew out of ,mozart and ,haydn1 adding a leaven which in the end leavened the whole lump1 but in the outset adding little2 ,mozart grew out of ,haydn1 in the outset adding little2 ,haydn grew out of ,domenico ,scarlatti and ,emmanuel ,bach1 adding1 in the outset1 little4 ,these men grew out of ,john ,sebastian ,bach1 for much as both of them admired ,handel ,i cannot see that they allowed his music to influence theirs4 ,handel even in his own lifetime was more or less of a survival and protest2 he saw the rocks on to which music was drifting and steered his own good ship wide of them2 as for his musical parentage1 he grew out of the early ,italians and out of ,purcell4 ,the more original a composer is the more certain is he to have made himself a strong base of operations in the works of earlier men1 striking his roots deep into them1 so that he1 as it were1 gets inside them and lives in them1 they in him1 and he in them2 then1 this firm foothold having been obtained1 he sallies forth as opportunity directs1 with the result that his works will reflect at once the experiences of his own musical life and of those musical progenitors to whom a loving instinct has more particularly attached him4 ,the fact that his work is deeply imbued with their ideas and little ways1 is not due to his deliberately taking from them4 ,he makes their ways his own as children model themselves upon those older persons who are kind to them4 ,he loves them because he feels they felt as he does1 and looked on men and things much as he looks upon them himself2 he is an outgrowth in the same direction as that in which they grew2 he is their son1 bound by every law of heredity to be no less them than himself2 the manner1 therefore1 which came most naturally to them will be the one which comes also most naturally to him as being their descendant4 ,nevertheless no matter how strong a family likeness may be1 7and it is sometimes1 as between ,handel and his forerunners1 startlingly close7 two men of different generations will never be so much alike that the work of each will not have a character of its own--unless indeed the one is masquerading as the other1 which is not tolerable except on rare occasions and on a very small scale4 ,no matter how like his father a man may be we can always tell the two apart2 but this once given1 so that he has a clear life of his own1 then a strong family likeness to some one else is no more to be regretted or concealed if it exists than to be affected if it does not4 ,it is on these terms alone that attractive music can be written1 and it is a musician's business to write attractive music4 ,he is1 as it were1 tenant for life of the estate of and trustee for that school to which he belongs4 ,normally1 that school will be the one which has obtained the firmest hold upon his own countrymen4 ,an ,englishman cannot successfully write like a ,german or a ,hungarian1 nor is it desirable that he should try4 ,if1 by way of variety1 we want ,german or ,hungarian music we shall get a more genuine article by going direct to ,german or ,hungarian composers4 ,for the most part1 however1 the soundest ,englishmen will be stay-at-homes1 in spite of their being much given to summer flings upon the continent4 ,whether as writers1 therefore1 or as listeners1 ,englishmen should stick chiefly to ,purcell1 ,handel1 and ,sir ,arthur ,sullivan4 ,true1 ,handel was not an ,englishman by birth1 but no one was ever more thoroughly ,english in respect of all the best and most distinguishing features of ,englishmen4 ,as a young man1 though ,italy and ,germany were open to him1 he adopted the country of ,purcell1 feeling it1 doubtless1 to be1 as far as he was concerned1 more ,saxon than ,saxony itself4 ,he chose ,england2 nor can there be a doubt that he chose it because he believed it to be the country in which his music had the best chance of being appreciated4 ,and what does this involve1 if not that ,england1 take it all round1 is the most musically minded country in the world8 ,that this is so1 that it has produced the finest music the world has known1 and is therefore the finest school of music in the world1 cannot be reasonably disputed4 ,to the born musician1 it is hardly necessary to say1 neither the foregoing remarks nor any others about music1 except those that may be found in every text book1 can be of the smallest use4 ,handel knew this and no man ever said less about his art--or did more in it4 ,there are some semi-apocryphal #abh rules for tuning the harpsichord that pretend1 with what truth ,i know not1 to hail from him1 but here his theoretical contributions to music begin and end4 ,the rules begin 8,in this chord0 7the tonic major triad7 8tune the fifth pretty flat1 and the third considerably too sharp40 ,there is an absence of fuss about these words which suggests ,handel himself4 ,the written and spoken words of great painters or musicians who can talk or write is seldom lasting--artists are a dumb inarticulate folk1 whose speech is in their hands not in their tongues4 ,they look at us like seals1 but cannot talk to us4 ,to the musician1 therefore1 what has been said above is useless1 if not worse2 its object will have been attained if it aids the uncreative reader to criticise what he hears with more intelligence4 ,music ,so far as ,i can see1 this is the least stable of the arts4 ,from the earliest records we learn that there were musicians1 and people seem to have been just as fond of music as we are ourselves1 but1 whereas we find the old sculpture1 painting 7what there is of it7 and literature to have been in all essentials like our own1 and not only this but whereas we find them essentially the same in existing nations in ,europe1 ,asia1 ,africa and ,america1 this is not so as regards music either looking to antiquity or to the various existing nations4 ,i believe we should find old ,greek and ,roman music as hideous as we do ,persian and ,japanese1 or as ,persians and ,japanese find our own4 ,i believe therefore that the charm of music rests on a more unreasoning basis1 and is more dependent on what we are accustomed to1 than the pleasure given by the other arts4 ,we now find all the ecclesiastical modes1 except the ,ionian and the olian1 unsatisfactory1 indeed almost intolerable1 but ,i question whether1 if we were as much in the habit of using the ,dorian1 ,phrygian1 ,lydian and ,mixo-,lydian modes as we are of using the later olian mode 7the minor scale71 we should not find these just as satisfactory4 ,is it not possible that our indisputable preference for the ,ionian mode 7the major scale7 is simply the result of its being the one to which we are most accustomed8 ,if another mode were to become habitual1 might not this scale or mode become first a kind of supplementary moon-like mode 7as the olian now is7 and finally might it not become intolerable to us8 ,happily it will last my time as it is4 ,discords ,formerly all discords were prepared1 and ,monteverde's innovation of taking the dominant seventh unprepared was held to be cataclysmic1 but in modern music almost any conceivable discord may be taken unprepared4 ,we have grown so used to this now that we think nothing of it1 still1 whenever it can be done without sacrificing something more important1 ,i think even a dominant seventh is better prepared4 ,it is only the preparation1 however1 of discords which is now less rigorously insisted on2 their resolution--generally by the climbing down of the offending note--is as necessary as ever if the music is to flow on smoothly4 ,this holds good exactly in our daily life4 ,if a discord has to be introduced1 it is better to prepare it as a concord1 take it on a strong beat1 and resolve it downwards on a weak one4 ,the preparation being often difficult or impossible may be dispensed with1 but the resolution is still de rigueur4 ,anachronism ,it has been said 8,thou shalt not masquerade in costumes not of thine own period10 but the history of art is the history of revivals4 ,musical criticism1 so far as ,i can see1 is the least intelligent of the criticisms on this score4 ,unless a man writes in the exotic style of ,brahms1 ,wagner1 ,dvok and ,i know not what other ,slav1 ,czech1 ,teuton or ,hebrew1 the critics are sure to accuse him of being an anachronism4 ,the only man in ,england who is permitted to write in a style which is in the main of home growth is the ,irish ,jew1 ,sir ,arthur ,sullivan4 ,if we may go to a foreign style why may we not go to one of an earlier period8 ,but surely we may do whatever we like1 and the better we like it the better we shall do it4 ,the great thing is to make sure that we like the style we choose better than we like any other1 that we engraft on it whatever we hear that we think will be a good addition1 and depart from it wherever we dislike it4 ,if a man does this he may write in the style of the year one and he will be no anachronism2 the musical critics may call him one but they cannot make him one4 ,chapters in ,music ,the analogy between literature1 painting and music1 so close in so many respects1 suggests that the modern custom of making a whole scene1 act or even drama into a single1 unbroken movement without subdivision is like making a book without chapters1 or a picture1 like ,bernardino ,luini's great ,lugano fresco in which a long subject is treated within the compass of a single piece4 ,better advised1 as it seems to me1 ,gaudenzio ,ferrari broke up a space of the same shape and size at ,varallo into many compartments1 each more or less complete in itself1 grouped round a central scene4 ,the subdivision of books into chapters1 each with a more or less emphatic full close in its own key1 is found to be a help as giving the attention halting places by the way4 ,everything that is worth attending to fatigues as well as delights1 much as the climbing of a mountain does so4 ,chapters and short pieces give rests during which the attention gathers renewed strength and attacks with fresh ardour a new stretch of the ascent4 ,each bar is1 as it were1 a step cut in ice and one does not see1 if set pieces are objected to1 why phrases and bars should not be attacked next4 ,at the ,opera ,jones and ,i went last ,friday to ,don ,giovanni1 ,mr4 ,kemp #aca putting us in free4 ,it bored us both1 and we like ,narcissus better4 ,we admit the beauty of many of the beginnings of the airs1 but this beauty is not maintained1 in every case the air tails off into something that is much too near being tiresome4 ,the plot1 of course1 is stupid to a degree1 but plot has very little to do with it2 what can be more uninteresting than the plot of many of ,handel's oratorios8 ,we both believe the scheme of ,italian opera to be a bad one2 we think that music should never be combined with acting to a greater extent than is done1 we will say1 in the ,mikado2 that the oratorio form is far more satisfactory than opera2 and we agreed that we had neither of us ever yet been to an opera 7,i mean a ,grand ,opera7 without being bored by it4 ,i am not sorry to remember that ,handel never abandoned oratorio after he had once fairly taken to it4 ,at a ,philharmonic ,concert ,we went last night to the ,philharmonic and sat in the shilling orchestra1 just behind the drums1 so that we could see and hear what each instrument was doing4 ,the concert began with ,mozart's ,g ,minor ,symphony4 ,we liked this fairly well1 especially the last movement1 but we found all the movements too long and1 speaking for myself1 if ,i had a tame orchestra for which ,i might write programmes1 ,i should probably put it down once or twice again1 not from any spontaneous wish to hear more of it but as a matter of duty that ,i might judge it with fuller comprehension--still1 if each movement had been half as long ,i should probably have felt cordially enough towards it1 except of course in so far as that the spirit of the music is alien to that of the early ,italian school with which alone ,i am in genuine sympathy and of which ,handel is the climax4 ,then came a terribly long-winded recitative by ,beethoven and an air with a good deal of 8,che far0 in it4 ,i do not mind this1 and if it had been 8,che far0 absolutely ,i should1 ,i daresay1 have liked it better4 ,i never want to hear it again and my orchestra should never play it4 ,beethoven's ,concerto for violin and orchestra 7op4 #fa7 which followed was longer and more tedious still4 ,i have not a single good word for it4 ,if the subject of the last movement was the tune of one of ,arthur ,robert's comic songs1 or of any music-hall song1 it would do very nicely and ,i daresay we should often hum it4 ,i do not mean at the opening of the movement but about half way through1 where the character is just that of a common music-hall song and1 so far1 good4 ,part ,,ii opened with a suite in ,f ,major for orchestra 7op4 #ci7 by ,moszkowski4 ,this was much more clear and1 in every way1 interesting than the ,beethoven2 every now and then there were passages that were pleasing1 not to say more4 ,jones liked it better than ,i did2 still1 one could not feel that any of the movements were the mere drivelling show stuff of which the concerto had been full4 ,but it1 like everything else done at these concerts1 is too long1 cut down one-half it would have been all right and we should have liked to hear it twice4 ,as it was1 all we could say was that it was much better than we had expected4 ,i did not like the look of the young man who wrote it and who also conducted4 ,he had long yellowish hair and kept tossing his head to fling it back on to his shoulders1 instead of keeping it short as ,jones and ,i keep ours4 ,then came ,schubert's 8,erl ,knig10 which1 ,i daresay1 is very fine but with which ,i have absolutely nothing in common4 ,and finally there was a tiresome characteristic overture by ,berlioz1 which1 if ,jones could by any possibility have written anything so dreary1 ,i should certainly have begged him not to publish4 ,the general impression left upon me by the concert is that all the movements were too long1 and that1 no matter how clever the development may be1 it spoils even the most pleasing and interesting subject if there is too much of it4 ,handel knew when to stop and1 when he meant stopping1 he stopped much as a horse stops1 with little1 if any1 peroration4 ,who can doubt that he kept his movements short because he knew that the worst music within a reasonable compass is better than the best which is made tiresome by being spun out unduly8 ,i only know one concerted piece of ,handel's which ,i think too long1 ,i mean the overture to ,saul1 but ,i have no doubt that if ,i were to try to cut it down ,i should find some excellent reason that had made ,handel decide on keeping it as it is4 ,at the ,wind ,concerts ,there have been some interesting wind concerts lately2 ,i say interesting1 because they brought home to us the unsatisfactory character of wind unsupported by strings4 ,i rather pleased ,jones by saying that the hautbois was the clarionet with a cold in its head1 and the bassoon the same with a cold on its chest4 ,at a ,handel ,festival i ,the large sweeps of sound floated over the orchestra like the wind playing upon a hill-side covered with young heather1 and ,i sat and wondered which of the ,alpine passes ,handel crossed when he went into ,italy4 ,what time of the year was it8 ,what kind of weather did he have8 ,were the spring flowers out8 ,did he walk the greater part of the way as we do now8 ,and what did he hear8 ,for he must sometimes have heard music inside him--and that1 too1 as much above what he has written down as what he has written down is above all other music4 ,no man can catch all1 or always the best1 of what is put for a moment or two within his reach4 ,handel took as much and as near the best1 doubtless1 as mortal man can take2 but he must have had moments and glimpses which were given to him alone and which he could tell no man4 ii ,i saw the world a great orchestra filled with angels whose instruments were of gold4 ,and ,i saw the organ on the top of the axis round which all should turn1 but nothing turned and nothing moved and the angels stirred not and all was as still as a stone1 and ,i was myself also1 like the rest1 as still as a stone4 ,then ,i saw some huge1 cloud-like forms nearing1 and behold6 it was the ,lord bringing two of his children by the hand4 8,o ,papa60 said one1 8isn't it pretty80 8,yes1 my dear10 said the ,lord1 8and if you drop a penny into the box the figures will work40 ,then ,i saw that what ,i had taken for the keyboard of the organ was no keyboard but only a slit1 and one of the little ,lords dropped a plaque of metal into it4 ,and then the angels played and the world turned round and the organ made a noise and the people began killing one another and the two little ,lords clapped their hands and were delighted4 ,handel and ,dickens ,they buried ,dickens in the very next grave1 cheek by jowl with ,handel4 ,it does not matter1 but it pained me to think that people who could do this could become ,deans of ,westminster4 ,,ix ,a ,painter's ,views on ,painting ,the ,old ,masters and ,their ,pupils ,,the old masters taught1 not because they liked teaching1 nor yet from any idea of serving the cause of art1 nor yet because they were paid to teach by the parents of their pupils4 ,the parents probably paid no money at first4 ,the masters took pupils and taught them because they had more work to do than they could get through and wanted some one to help them4 ,they sold the pupil's work as their own1 just as people do now who take apprentices4 ,when people can sell a pupil's work1 they will teach the pupil all they know and will see he learns it4 ,this is the secret of the whole matter4 ,the modern schoolmaster does not aim at learning from his pupils1 he hardly can1 but the old masters did4 ,see how ,giovanni ,bellini learned from ,titian and ,giorgione who both came to him in the same year1 as boys1 when ,bellini was #fc years old4 ,what a day for painting was that6 ,all ,bellini's best work was done thenceforward4 ,i know nothing in the history of art so touching as this4 #ahhc4 ,p4,s4 ,i have changed my mind about ,titian4 ,i don't like him4 #ahig4 ,the ,academic ,system and ,repentance ,the academic system goes almost on the principle of offering places for repentance1 and letting people fall soft1 by assuming that they should be taught how to do things before they do them1 and not by the doing of them4 ,good economy requires that there should be little place for repentance1 and that when people fall they should fall hard enough to remember it4 ,the ,jubilee ,sixpence ,we have spent hundreds of thousands1 or more probably of millions1 on national art collections1 schools of art1 preliminary training and academicism1 without wanting anything in particular1 but when the nation did at last try all it knew to design a sixpence1 it failed4 #acf ,the other coins are all very well in their way1 and so are the stamps--the letters get carried1 and the money passes2 but both stamps and coins would have been just as good1 and very likely better1 if there had not been an art-school in the country4 #ahhh4 ,studying from ,nature ,when is a man studying from nature1 and when is he only flattering himself that he is doing so because he is painting with a model or lay-figure before him8 ,a man may be working his eight or nine hours a day from the model and yet not be studying from nature4 ,he is painting but not studying4 ,he is like the man in the ,bible who looks at himself in a glass and goeth away forgetting what manner of man he was4 ,he will know no more about nature at the end of twenty years than a priest who has been reading his breviary day after day without committing it to memory will know of its contents4 ,unless he gets what he has seen well into his memory1 so as to have it at his fingers' ends as familiarly as the characters with which he writes a letter1 he can be no more held to be familiar with1 and to have command over1 nature than a man who only copies his signature from a copy kept in his pocket1 as ,i have known ,french ,canadians do1 can be said to be able to write4 ,it is painting without nature that will give a man this1 and not painting directly from her4 ,he must do both the one and the other1 and the one as much as the other4 ,the ,model and the ,lay-,figure ,it may be doubted whether they have not done more harm than good4 ,they are an attempt to get a bit of stuffed nature and to study from that instead of studying from the thing itself4 ,indeed1 the man who never has a model but studies the faces of people as they sit opposite him in an omnibus1 and goes straight home and puts down what little he can of what he has seen1 dragging it out piecemeal from his memory1 and going into another omnibus to look again for what he has forgotten as near as he can find it--that man is studying from nature as much as he who has a model four or five hours daily--and probably more4 ,for you may be painting from nature as much without nature actually before you as with2 and you may have nature before you all the while you are painting and yet not be painting from her4 ,sketching from ,nature ,is very like trying to put a pinch of salt on her tail4 ,and yet many manage to do it very nicely4 ,great ,art and ,sham ,art ,art has no end in view save the emphasising and recording in the most effective way some strongly felt interest or affection4 ,where there is neither interest nor desire to record with good effect1 there is but sham art1 or none at all3 where both these are fully present1 no matter how rudely and inarticulately1 there is great art4 ,art is at best a dress1 important1 yet still nothing in comparison with the wearer1 and1 as a general rule1 the less it attracts attention the better4 ,inarticulate ,touches ,an artist's touches are sometimes no more articulate than the barking of a dog who would call attention to something without exactly knowing what4 ,this is as it should be1 and he is a great artist who can be depended on not to bark at nothing4 ,detail ,one reason why it is as well not to give very much detail is that1 no matter how much is given1 the eye will always want more2 it will know very well that it is not being paid in full4 ,on the other hand1 no matter how little one gives1 the eye will generally compromise by wanting only a little more4 ,in either case the eye will want more1 so one may as well stop sooner or later4 ,sensible painting1 like sensible law1 sensible writing1 or sensible anything else1 consists as much in knowing what to omit as what to insist upon4 ,it consists in the tact that tells the painter where to stop4 ,painting and ,association ,painting is only possible by reason of association's not sticking to the letter of its bond1 so that we jump to conclusions4 ,the ,credulous ,eye ,painters should remember that the eye1 as a general rule1 is a good1 simple1 credulous organ--very ready to take things on trust if it be told them with any confidence of assertion4 ,truths from ,nature ,we must take as many as we can1 but the difficulty is that it is often so hard to know what the truths of nature are4 ,accuracy ,after having spent years striving to be accurate1 we must spend as many more in discovering when and how to be inaccurate4 ,herbert ,spencer ,he is like nature to ,fuseli--he puts me out4 ,shade ,colour and ,reputation ,when a thing is near and in light1 colour and form are important2 when far and in shadow1 they are unimportant4 ,form and colour are like reputations which when they become shady are much of a muchness4 ,money and ,technique ,money is very like technique 7or vice versa74 ,we see that both musicians or painters with great command of technique seldom know what to do with it1 while those who have little often know how to use what they have4 ,action and ,study ,these things are antagonistic4 ,the composer is seldom a great theorist2 the theorist is never a great composer4 ,each is equally fatal to and essential in the other4 ,sacred and ,profane ,statues ,i have never seen statues of ,jove1 ,neptune1 ,apollo or any of the pagan gods that are not as great failures as the statues of ,christ and the ,apostles4 ,seeing ,if a man has not studied painting1 or at any rate black and white drawing1 his eyes are wild2 learning to draw tames them4 ,the first step towards taming the eyes is to teach them not to see too much4 ,quickness in seeing as in everything else comes from long sustained effort after rightness and comes unsought4 ,it never comes from effort after quickness4 ,improvement in ,art ,painting depends upon seeing2 seeing depends upon looking for this or that1 at least in great part it does so4 ,think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy4 ,if you look at it to admire it you are lost4 ,any man1 as old ,heatherley used to say1 will go on improving as long as he is bona fide dissatisfied with his work4 ,improvement in one's painting depends upon how we look at our work4 ,if we look at it to see where it is wrong1 we shall see this and make it righter4 ,if we look at it to see where it is right1 we shall see this and shall not make it righter4 ,we cannot see it both wrong and right at the same time4 ,light and ,shade ,tell the young artist that he wants a black piece here or there1 when he sees no such black piece in nature1 and that he must continue this or that shadow thus1 and break this light into this or that other1 when in nature he sees none of these things1 and you will puzzle him very much4 ,he is trying to put down what he sees2 he does not care two straws about composition or light and shade2 if he sees two tones of such and such relative intensity in nature1 he will give them as near as he can the same relative intensity in his picture1 and to tell him that he is perhaps exactly to reverse the natural order in deference to some canon of the academicians1 and that at the same time he is drawing from nature1 is what he cannot understand4 ,i am very doubtful how far people do not arrange their light and shade too much with the result with which we are familiar in drawing-masters' copies2 it may be right or it may not1 ,i don't know--,i am afraid ,i ought to know1 but ,i don't2 but ,i do know that those pictures please me best which were painted without the slightest regard to any of these rules4 ,i suppose the justification of those who talk as above lies in the fact that1 as we cannot give all nature1 we lie by suppressio veri whether we like it or no1 and that you sometimes lie less by putting in something which does not exist at the moment1 but which easily might exist and which gives a lot of facts which you otherwise could not give at all1 than by giving so much as you can alone give if you adhere rigidly to the facts4 ,if this is so the young painter would understand the matter1 if it were thus explained to him1 better than he is likely to do if he is merely given it as a canon4 ,at the same time1 ,i admit it to be true that one never sees light but it has got dark in it1 nor vice versa1 and that this comes to saying that if you are to be true to nature you must break your lights into your shadows and vice versa2 and so usual is this that1 if there happens here or there to be an exception1 the painter had better say nothing about it1 for it is more true to nature's general practice not to have it so than to have it4 ,certainly as regards colour1 ,i never remember to have seen a piece of one colour without finding a bit of a very similar colour not far off1 but having no connection with it4 ,this holds good in such an extraordinary way that if it happens to fail the matter should be passed over in silence4 ,colour ,the expression 8seeing colour0 used to puzzle me4 ,i was aware that some painters made their pictures more pleasing in colour than others and more like the colour of the actual thing as a whole1 still there were any number of bits of brilliant colour in their work which for the life of me ,i could not see in nature4 ,i used to hear people say of a man who got pleasing and natural colour1 8,does he not see colour well80 and ,i used to say he did1 but1 as far as ,i was concerned1 it would have been more true to say that he put down colour which he did not see well1 or at any rate that he put down colour which ,i could not see myself4 ,in course of time ,i got to understand that seeing colour does not mean inventing colour1 or exaggerating it1 but being on the look out for it1 thus seeing it where another will not see it1 and giving it the preference as among things to be preserved and rendered amid the wholesale slaughter of innocents which is inevitable in any painting4 ,painting is only possible as a quasi-hieroglyphic epitomising of nature2 this means that the half goes for the whole1 whereon the question arises which half is to be taken and which made to go8 ,the colourist will insist by preference on the coloured half1 the man who has no liking for colour1 however much else he may sacrifice1 will not be careful to preserve this and1 as a natural consequence1 he will not preserve it4 ,good1 that is to say1 pleasing1 beautiful1 or even pretty colour cannot be got by putting patches of pleasing1 beautiful or pretty colour upon one's canvas and1 which is a harder matter1 leaving them when they have been put4 ,it is said of money that it is more easily made than kept and this is true of many things1 such as friendship2 and even life itself is more easily got than kept4 ,the same holds good of colour4 ,it is also true that1 as with money1 more is made by saving than in any other way1 and the surest way to lose colour is to play with it inconsiderately1 not knowing how to leave well alone4 ,a touch of pleasing colour should on no account be stirred without consideration4 ,that we can see in a natural object more colour than strikes us at a glance1 if we look for it attentively1 will not be denied by any who have tried to look for it4 ,thus1 take a dull1 dead1 level1 grimy old ,london wall3 at a first glance we can see no colour in it1 nothing but a more or less purplish mass1 got1 perhaps as nearly as in any other way1 by a tint mixed with black1 ,indian red and white4 ,if1 however1 we look for colour in this1 we shall find here and there a broken brick with a small surface of brilliant crimson1 hard by there will be another with a warm orange hue perceivable through the grime by one who is on the look out for it1 but by no one else4 ,then there may be bits of old advertisement of which here and there a gaily coloured fragment may remain1 or a rusty iron hook or a bit of bright green moss2 few indeed are the old walls1 even in the grimiest parts of ,london1 on which no redeeming bits of colour can be found by those who are practised in looking for them4 ,to like colour1 to wish to find it1 and thus to have got naturally into a habit of looking for it1 this alone will enable a man to see colour and to make a note of it when he has seen it1 and this alone will lead him towards a pleasing and natural scheme of colour in his work4 ,good colour can never be got by putting down colour which is not seen2 at any rate only a master who has long served accuracy can venture on occasional inaccuracy--telling a lie1 knowing it to be a lie1 and as1 se non vera1 ben trovata4 ,the grown man in his art may do this1 and indeed is not a man at all unless he knows how to do it daily and hourly without departure from the truth even in his boldest lie2 but the child in art must stick to what he sees4 ,if he looks harder he will see more1 and may put more1 but till he sees it without being in any doubt about it1 he must not put it4 ,there is no such sure way of corrupting one's colour sense as the habitual practice of putting down colour which one does not see2 this and the neglecting to look for it are equal faults4 ,the first error leads to melodramatic vulgarity1 the other to torpid dullness1 and it is hard to say which is worse4 ,it may be said that the preservation of all the little episodes of colour which can be discovered in an object whose general effect is dingy and the suppression of nothing but the uninteresting colourless details amount to what is really a forcing and exaggeration of nature1 differing but little from downright fraud1 so far as its effect goes1 since it gives an undue preference to the colour side of the matter4 ,in equity1 if the exigencies of the convention under which we are working require a sacrifice of a hundred details1 the majority of which are uncoloured1 while in the minority colour can be found if looked for1 the sacrifice should be made pro rata from coloured and uncoloured alike4 ,if the facts of nature are a hundred1 of which ninety are dull in colour and ten interesting1 and the painter can only give ten1 he must not give the ten interesting bits of colour and neglect the ninety soberly coloured details4 ,strictly1 he should sacrifice eighty-one sober details and nine coloured ones2 he will thus at any rate preserve the balance and relation which obtain in nature between coloured and uncoloured4 ,this1 no doubt1 is what he ought to do if he leaves the creative1 poetic and more properly artistic aspect of his own function out of the question2 if he is making himself a mere transcriber1 holding the mirror up to nature with such entire forgetfulness of self as to be rather looking-glass than man1 this is what he must do4 ,but the moment he approaches nature in this spirit he ceases to be an artist1 and the better he succeeds as painter of something that might pass for a coloured photograph1 the more inevitably must he fail to satisfy1 or indeed to appeal to us at all as poet--as one whose sympathies with nature extend beyond her superficial aspect1 or as one who is so much at home with her as to be able readily to dissociate the permanent and essential from the accidental which may be here to-day and gone to-morrow4 ,if he is to come before us as an artist1 he must do so as a poet or creator of that which is not1 as well as a mirror of that which is4 ,true1 experience in all kinds of poetical work shows that the less a man creates the better1 that the more1 in fact1 he makes1 the less is he of a maker2 but experience also shows that the course of true nature1 like that of true love1 never does run smooth1 and that occasional1 judicious1 slight departures from the actual facts1 by one who knows the value of a lie too well to waste it1 bring nature more vividly and admirably before us than any amount of adherence to the letter of strict accuracy4 ,it is the old story1 the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life4 ,with colour1 then1 he who does not look for it will begin by not seeing it unless it is so obtrusive that there is no escaping it2 he will therefore1 in his rendering of the hundred facts of nature above referred to1 not see the ten coloured bits at all1 supposing them to be1 even at their brightest1 somewhat sober1 and his work will be colourless or disagreeable in colour4 ,the faithful copyist1 who is still a mere copyist1 will give nine details of dull uninteresting colour and one of interesting4 ,the artist or poet will find some reason for slightly emphasising the coloured details and will scatter here and there a few slight1 hardly perceptible1 allusions to more coloured details than come within the letter of his bond1 but will be careful not to overdo it4 ,the vulgar sensational painter will force in his colour everywhere1 and of all colourists he must be pronounced the worst4 ,briefly then1 to see colour is simply to have got into a habit of not overlooking the patches of colour which are seldom far to seek or hard to see by those who look for them4 ,it is not the making one's self believe that one sees all manner of colours which are not there1 it is only the getting oneself into a mental habit of looking out for episodes of colour1 and of giving them a somewhat undue preference in the struggle for rendering1 wherever anything like a reasonable pretext can be found for doing so4 ,for if a picture is to be pleasing in colour1 pleasing colours must be put upon the canvas1 and reasons have got to be found for putting them there4 #ahhf4 ,p4,s4--,the foregoing note wants a great deal of reconsideration for which ,i cannot find time just now4 ,jan4 #ca1 #ahih4 ,words and ,colour ,a man cannot be a great colourist unless he is a great deal more4 ,a great colourist is no better than a great wordist unless the colour is well applied to a subject which at any rate is not repellent4 ,amateurs and ,professionals ,there is no excuse for amateur work being bad4 ,amateurs often excuse their shortcomings on the ground that they are not professionals1 the professional could plead with greater justice that he is not an amateur4 ,the professional has not1 he might well say1 the leisure and freedom from money anxieties which will let him devote himself to his art in singleness of heart1 telling of things as he sees them without fear of what man shall say unto him2 he must think not of what appears to him right and loveable but of what his patrons will think and of what the critics will tell his patrons to say they think2 he has got to square everyone all round and will assuredly fail to make his way unless he does this2 if1 then1 he betrays his trust he does so under temptation4 ,whereas the amateur who works with no higher aim than that of immediate recognition betrays it from the vanity and wantonness of his spirit4 ,the one is naughty because he is needy1 the other from natural depravity4 ,besides1 the amateur can keep his work to himself1 whereas the professional man must exhibit or starve4 ,the question is what is the amateur an amateur of8 ,what is he really in love with8 ,is he in love with other people1 thinking he sees something which he would like to show them1 which he feels sure they would enjoy if they could only see it as he does1 which he is therefore trying as best he can to put before the few nice people whom he knows8 ,if this is his position he can do no wrong1 the spirit in which he works will ensure that his defects will be only as bad spelling or bad grammar in some pretty saying of a child4 ,if1 on the other hand1 he is playing for social success and to get a reputation for being clever1 then no matter how dexterous his work may be1 it is but another mode of the speaking with the tongues of men and angels without charity2 it is as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal1 full of sound and fury signifying nothing4 ,the ,ansidei ,raffaelle ,this picture is inspired by no deeper feeling than a determination to adhere to the conventions of the time4 ,these conventions ensure an effect of more or less devotional character1 and this1 coupled with our reverence for the name of ,raffaelle1 the sentiments arising from antiquity and foreignness1 and the inability of most people to judge of the work on technical grounds1 because they can neither paint nor draw1 prevents us from seeing what a mere business picture it is and how poor the painting is throughout4 ,a master in any art should be first man1 then poet1 then craftsman2 this picture must have been painted by one who was first worldling1 then religious-property-manufacturer1 then painter with brains not more than average and no heart4 ,the ,madonna's head has indeed a certain prettiness of a not very uncommon kind2 the paint has been sweetened with a soft brush and licked smooth till all texture as of flesh is gone and the head is wooden and tight2 ,i can see no expression in it2 the hand upon the open book is as badly drawn as the hand of ,s4 ,catharine 7also by ,raffaelle7 in our gallery1 or even worse2 so is the part of the other hand which can be seen2 they are better drawn than the hands in the ,ecce homo of ,correggio in our gallery1 for the fingers appear to have the right number of joints1 which none of those in the ,correggio have1 but this is as much as can be said4 ,the dress is poorly painted1 the gold thread work being of the cheapest1 commonest kind1 both as regards pattern and the quantity allowed2 especially note the meagre allowance and poor pattern of the embroidery on the virgin's bosom2 it is done as by one who knew she ought to have1 and must have1 a little gold work1 but was determined she should have no more than he could help4 ,this is so wherever there is gold thread work in the picture4 ,it is so on ,s4 ,nicholas's cloak where a larger space is covered1 but the pattern is dull and the smallest quantity of gold is made to go the longest way4 ,the gold cording which binds this is more particularly badly done4 ,compare the embroidery and gold thread work in 8,the ,virgin adoring the ,infant ,christ10 ascribed to ,andrea ,verrocchio1 ,no4 #bif1 ,room ,v2 8,the ,annunciation0 by ,carlo ,crivelli1 ,no4 #gci1 ,room ,,viii2 in 8,the ,angel ,raphael accompanies ,tobias on his ,journey into ,media0 attributed to ,botticini1 ,no4 #gha1 ,room ,v2 in 8,portrait of a ,lady10 school of ,pollaiuolo1 ,no4 #ehe1 ,room ,v2 in 8,a ,canon of the ,church with his ,patron ,saints0 by ,gheeraert ,david1 ,no4 #ajde1 ,room ,,xi2 or indeed the general run of the gold embroidery of the period as shown in our gallery4 #adg ,so with the jewels2 there are examples of jewels in most of the pictures named above1 none of them1 perhaps1 very first-rate1 but all of them painted with more care and serious aim than the eighteen-penny trinket which serves ,s4 ,nicholas for a brooch4 ,the jewels in the mitre are rather better than this1 but much depends upon the kind of day on which the picture is seen2 on a clear bright day they1 and indeed every part of the picture1 look much worse than on a dull one because the badness can be more clearly seen4 ,as for the mitre itself1 it is made of the same hard unyielding material as the portico behind the saint1 whatever this may be1 presumably wood4 ,observe also the crozier which ,s4 ,nicholas is holding2 observe the cheap streak of high light exactly the same thickness all the way and only broken in one place2 so with the folds in the draperies2 all is monotonous1 unobservant1 unimaginative--the work of a feeble man whose pains will never extend much beyond those necessary to make him pass as stronger than he is2 especially the folds in the white linen over ,s4 ,nicholas's throat1 and about his girdle--weaker drapery can hardly be than this1 unless1 perhaps1 that from under which ,s4 ,nicholas's hands come4 ,there is not only no art here to conceal1 but there is not even pains to conceal the want of art4 ,as for the hands themselves1 and indeed all the hands and feet throughout the picture1 there is not one which is even tolerably drawn if judged by the standard which ,royal ,academicians apply to ,royal ,academy students now4 ,granted that this is an early work1 nevertheless ,i submit that the drawing here is not that of one who is going to do better by and by1 it is that of one who is essentially insincere and who will never aim higher than immediate success4 ,those who grow to the best work almost always begin by laying great stress on details which are all they as yet have strength for2 they cannot do much1 but the little they can do they do and never tire of doing2 they grow by getting juster notions of proportion and subordination of parts to the whole rather than by any greater amount of care and patience bestowed upon details4 ,here there are no bits of detail worked out as by one who was interested in them and enjoyed them4 ,wherever a thing can be scamped it is scamped4 ,as the whole is1 so are the details1 and as the details are1 so is the whole2 all is tainted with eye-service and with a vulgarity not the less profound for being veiled by a due observance of conventionality4 ,i shall be told that ,raffaelle did come to draw and paint much better than he has done here4 ,i demur to this4 ,he did a little better2 he just took so much pains as to prevent him from going down-hill headlong1 and1 with practice1 he gained facility1 but he was never very good1 either as a draughtsman or as a painter4 ,his reputation1 indeed1 rests mainly on his supposed exquisitely pure and tender feeling4 ,his colour is admittedly inferior1 his handling is not highly praised by any one1 his drawing has been much praised1 but it is of a penmanship freehand kind which is particularly apt to take people in4 ,of course he could draw in some ways1 no one giving all his time to art and living in ,raffaelle's surroundings could1 with even ordinary pains1 help becoming a facile draughtsman1 but it is the expression and sentiment of his pictures which are supposed to be so ineffable and to make him the prince of painters4 ,i do not think this reputation will be maintained much longer4 ,i can see no ineffable expression in the ,ansidei ,madonna's head1 nor yet in that of the ,garvagh ,madonna in our gallery1 nor in the ,s4 ,catharine4 ,he has the saint-touch1 as some painters have the tree-touch and others the water-touch4 ,i remember the time when ,i used to think ,i saw religious feeling in these last two pictures1 but each time ,i see them ,i wonder more and more how ,i can have been taken in by them4 ,i hear people admire the head of ,s4 ,nicholas in the ,ansidei picture4 ,i can see nothing in it beyond the power of a very ordinary painter1 and nothing that a painter of more than very ordinary power would be satisfied with4 ,when ,i look at the head of ,bellini's ,doge1 ,loredano ,loredani1 ,i can see defects1 as every one can see defects in every picture1 but the more ,i see it the more ,i marvel at it1 and the more profoundly ,i respect the painter4 ,with ,raffaelle ,i find exactly the reverse2 ,i am carried away at first1 as ,i was when a young man by ,mendelssohn's ,songs ,without ,words1 only to be very angry with myself presently on finding that ,i could have believed even for a short time in something that has no real hold upon me4 ,i know the ,s4 ,catharine in our gallery has been said by some not to be by ,raffaelle4 ,no one will doubt its genuineness who compares the drawing1 painting and feeling of ,s4 ,catharine's eyes and nose with those of the ,s4 ,john in the ,ansidei picture4 ,the doubts have only been raised owing to the fact that the picture1 being hung on a level with the eye1 is so easily seen to be bad that people think ,raffaelle cannot have painted it4 ,returning to the ,s4 ,nicholas2 apart from the expression1 or as it seems to me want of expression1 the modelling of the head is not only poor but very poor4 ,the forehead is formless and boneless1 the nose is entirely wanting in that play of line and surface which an old man's nose affords2 no one ever yet drew or painted a nose absolutely as nature has made it1 but he who compares carefully drawn noses1 as that in ,rembrandt's younger portrait of himself1 in his old woman1 in the three ,van ,eycks1 in the ,andrea ,solario1 in the ,loredano ,loredani by ,bellini1 all in our gallery1 with the nose of ,raffaelle's ,s4 ,nicholas will not be long in finding out how slovenly ,raffaelle's treatment in reality is4 ,eyes1 eyebrows1 mouth1 cheeks and chin are treated with the same weakness1 and this not the weakness of a child who is taking much pains to do something beyond his strength1 and whose intention can be felt through and above the imperfections of his performance 7as in the case of the two ,apostles' heads by ,giotto in our gallery71 but of one who is not even conscious of weakness save by way of impatience that his work should cost him time and trouble at all1 and who is satisfied if he can turn it out well enough to take in patrons who have themselves never either drawn or painted4 ,finally1 let the spectator turn to the sky and landscape4 ,it is the cheapest kind of sky with no clouds and going down as low as possible1 so as to save doing more country details than could be helped4 ,as for the little landscape there is1 let the reader compare it with any of the examples by ,bellini1 ,basaiti1 or even ,cima da ,conegliano1 which may be found in the same or the adjoining rooms4 ,how1 then1 did ,raffaelle get his reputation8 ,it may be answered1 ,how did ,virgil get his8 or ,dante8 or ,bacon8 or ,plato8 or ,mendelssohn8 or a score of others who not only get the public ear but keep it sometimes for centuries8 ,how did ,guido1 ,guercino and ,domenichino get their reputations8 ,a hundred years ago these men were held as hardly inferior to ,raffaelle himself4 ,they had a couple of hundred years or so of triumph--why so much8 ,and if so much1 why not more8 ,if we begin asking questions1 we may ask why anything at all8 ,populus vult decipi is the only answer1 and nine men out of ten will follow on with et decipiatur4 ,the immediate question1 however1 is not how ,raffaelle came by his reputation but whether1 having got it1 he will continue to hold it now that we have a fair amount of his work at the ,national ,gallery4 ,i grant that the general effect of the picture if looked at as a mere piece of decoration is agreeable1 but ,i have seen many a picture which though not bearing consideration as a serious work yet looked well from a purely decorative standpoint4 ,i believe1 however1 that at least half of those who sit gazing before this ,ansidei ,raffaelle by the half-hour at a time do so rather that they may be seen than see2 half1 again1 of the remaining half come because they are made to do so1 the rest see rather what they bring with them and put into the picture than what the picture puts into them4 ,and then there is the charm of mere age4 ,any ,italian picture of the early part of the sixteenth century1 even though by a worse painter than ,raffaelle1 can hardly fail to call up in us a solemn1 old-world feeling1 as though we had stumbled unexpectedly on some holy1 peaceful survivors of an age long gone by1 when the struggle was not so fierce and the world was a sweeter1 happier place than we now find it1 when men and women were comelier1 and we should like to have lived among them1 to have been golden-hued as they1 to have done as they did2 we dream of what might have been if our lines had been cast in more pleasant places--and so on1 all of it rubbish1 but still not wholly unpleasant rubbish so long as it is not dwelt upon4 ,bearing in mind the natural tendency to accept anything which gives us a peep as it were into a golden age1 real or imaginary1 bearing in mind also the way in which this particular picture has been written up by critics1 and the prestige of ,raffaelle's name1 the wonder is not that so many let themselves be taken in and carried away with it but that there should not be a greater gathering before it than there generally is4 ,buying a ,rembrandt ,as an example of the evenness of the balance of advantages between the principles of staying still and taking what comes1 and going about to look for things1 #aea ,i might mention my small ,rembrandt1 8,the ,robing of ,joseph before ,pharaoh40 ,i have wanted a ,rembrandt all my life1 and ,i have wanted not to give more than a few shillings for it4 ,i might have travelled all ,europe over for no one can say how many years1 looking for a good1 well-preserved1 forty-shilling ,rembrandt 7and this was what ,i wanted71 but on two occasions of my life cheap ,rembrandts have run right up against me4 ,the first was a head cut out of a ruined picture that had only in part escaped destruction when ,belvoir ,castle was burned down at the beginning of this century4 ,i did not see the head but have little doubt it was genuine4 ,it was offered me for a pound2 ,i was not equal to the occasion and did not at once go to see it as ,i ought1 and when ,i attended to it some months later the thing had gone4 ,my only excuse must be that ,i was very young4 ,i never got another chance till a few weeks ago when ,i saw what ,i took1 and take1 to be an early1 but very interesting1 work by ,rembrandt in the window of a pawnbroker opposite ,st4 ,clement ,danes ,church in the ,strand4 ,i very nearly let this slip too4 ,i saw it and was very much struck with it1 but1 knowing that ,i am a little apt to be too sanguine1 distrusted my judgment2 in the evening ,i mentioned the picture to ,gogin who went and looked at it2 finding him not less impressed than ,i had been with the idea that the work was an early one by ,rembrandt1 ,i bought it1 and the more ,i look at it the more satisfied ,i am that we are right4 ,people talk as though the making the best of what comes was such an easy matter1 whereas nothing in reality requires more experience and good sense4 ,it is only those who know how not to let the luck that runs against them slip1 who will be able to find things1 no matter how long and how far they go in search of them4 #ahhg4 ,trying to ,buy a ,bellini ,flushed with triumph in the matter of ,rembrandt1 a fortnight or so afterwards ,i was at ,christie's and saw two pictures that fired me4 ,one was a ,madonna and ,child by ,giovanni ,bellini1 ,i do not doubt genuine1 not in a very good state1 but still not repainted4 ,the ,madonna was lovely1 the ,child very good1 the landscape sweet and ,belliniesque4 ,i was much smitten and determined to bid up to a hundred pounds2 ,i knew this would be dirt cheap and was not going to buy at all unless ,i could get good value4 ,i bid up to a hundred guineas1 but there was someone else bent on having it and when he bid #aje guineas ,i let him have it1 not without regret4 ,i saw in the ,times that the purchaser's name was ,lesser4 ,the other picture ,i tried to get at the same sale 7this day week72 it was a small sketch numbered #gb 7,i think7 and purporting to be by ,giorgione but1 ,i fully believe1 by ,titian4 ,i bid up to #aj and then let it go4 ,it went for #bh1 and ,i should say would have been well bought at #dj4 #ahhg4 ,watts ,i was telling ,gogin how ,i had seen at ,christie's some pictures by ,watts and how much ,i had disliked them4 ,he said some of them had been exhibited in ,paris a few years ago and a friend of his led him up to one of them and said in a serious1 puzzled1 injured tone3 8,mon cher ami1 racontez-moi donc ceci1 s'il vous plait10 as though their appearance in such a place at all were something that must have an explanation not obvious upon the face of it4 ,lombard ,portals ,the crouching beasts1 on whose backs the pillars stand1 generally have a little one beneath them or some animal which they have killed1 or something1 in fact1 to give them occupation2 it was felt that1 though an animal by itself was well1 an animal doing something was much better4 ,the mere fact of companionship and silent sympathy is enough to interest1 but without this1 sculptured animals are stupid1 as our lions in ,trafalgar ,square--which1 among other faults1 have that of being much too well done4 ,so ,jones's cat1 ,prince1 picked up a little waif in the court and brought it home1 and the two lay together and were much lovelier than ,prince was by himself4 #aec ,holbein at ,basle ,how well he has done ,night in his 8,crucifixion06 ,also he has tried to do the ,alps1 putting them as background to the city1 but he has not done them as we should do them now4 ,i think the tower on the hill behind the city is the tower which we see on leaving ,basle on the road for ,lucerne1 ,i mean ,i think ,holbein had this tower in his head4 ,van ,eyck ,van ,eyck is delightful rather in spite of his high finish than because of it4 ,de ,hooghe finishes as highly as any one need do4 ,van ,eyck's finish is saved because up to the last he is essentially impressionist1 that is1 he keeps a just account of relative importances and keeps them in their true subordination one to another4 ,the only difference between him and ,rembrandt or ,velasquez is that these1 as a general rule1 stay their hand at an earlier stage of impressionism4 ,giotto ,there are few modern painters who are not greater technically than ,giotto1 but ,i cannot call to mind a single one whose work impresses me as profoundly as his does4 ,how is it that our so greatly better should be so greatly worse--that the farther we go beyond him the higher he stands above us8 ,time no doubt has much to do with it1 for1 great as ,giotto was1 there are painters of to-day not less so1 if they only dared express themselves as frankly and unaffectedly as he did4 ,early ,art ,the youth of an art is1 like the youth of anything else1 its most interesting period4 ,when it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger1 but we care less about it4 ,sincerity ,it is not enough that the painter should make the spectator feel what he meant him to feel2 he must also make him feel that this feeling was shared by the painter himself bona fide and without affectation4 ,of all the lies a painter can tell the worst is saying that he likes what he does not like4 ,but the poor wretch seldom knows himself2 for the art of knowing what gives him pleasure has been so neglected that it has been lost to all but a very few4 ,the old ,italians knew well enough what they liked and were as children in saying it4 ,x ,the ,position of a ,homo ,unius ,libri ,trbner and ,myself ,,when ,i went back to ,trbner1 after ,bogue had failed1 ,i had a talk with him and his partner4 ,i could see they had lost all faith in my literary prospects4 ,trbner told me ,i was a homo unius libri1 meaning ,erewhon4 ,he said ,i was in a very solitary position4 ,i replied that ,i knew ,i was1 but it suited me4 ,i said3 8,i pay my way2 when ,i was with you before1 ,i never owed you money2 you find me now not owing my publisher money1 but my publisher in debt to me2 ,i never owe so much as a tailor's bill2 beyond secured debts1 ,i do not owe #e in the world and never have0 7which is quite true74 8,i get my summer's holiday in ,italy every year2 ,i live very quietly and cheaply1 but it suits my health and tastes1 and ,i have no acquaintances but those ,i value4 ,my friends stick by me4 ,if ,i was to get in with these literary and scientific people ,i should hate them and they me4 ,i should fritter away my time and my freedom without getting a quid pro quo3 as it is1 ,i am free and ,i give the swells every now and then such a facer as they get from no one else4 ,of course ,i don't expect to get on in a commercial sense at present1 ,i do not go the right way to work for this2 but ,i am going the right way to secure a lasting reputation and this is what ,i do care for4 ,a man cannot have both1 he must make up his mind which he means going in for4 ,i have gone in for posthumous fame and ,i see no step in my literary career which ,i do not think calculated to promote my being held in esteem when the heat of passion has subsided40 ,trbner shrugged his shoulders4 ,he plainly does not believe that ,i shall succeed in getting a hearing2 he thinks the combination of the religious and cultured world too strong for me to stand against4 ,if he means that the reviewers will burke me as far as they can1 no doubt he is right2 but when ,i am dead there will be other reviewers and ,i have already done enough to secure that they shall from time to time look me up4 ,they won't bore me then but they will be just like the present ones4 #ahhb4 ,capping a ,success ,when ,i had written ,erewhon people wanted me at once to set to work and write another book like it4 ,how could ,i8 ,i cannot think how ,i escaped plunging into writing some laboured stupid book4 ,i am very glad ,i did escape4 ,nothing is so cruel as to try and force a man beyond his natural pace4 ,if he has got more stuff in him it will come out in its own time and its own way3 if he has not--let the poor wretch alone2 to have done one decent book should be enough2 the very worst way to get another out of him is to press him4 ,the more promise a young writer has given1 the more his friends should urge him not to over-tax himself4 ,a ,lady ,critic ,a lady1 whom ,i meet frequently in the ,british ,museum reading-room and elsewhere1 said to me the other day3 8,why don't you write another ,erewhon80 8,why1 my dear lady10 ,i replied1 8,life and ,habit was another ,erewhon40 ,they say these things to me continually to plague me and make out that ,i could do one good book but never any more4 ,she is the sort of person who if she had known ,shakespeare would have said to him1 when he wrote ,henry the ,i,vth3 8,ah1 ,mr4 ,shakespeare1 why don't you write us another ,titus ,andronicus8 ,now that was a sweet play1 that was40 ,and when he had done ,antony and ,cleopatra she would have told him that her favourite plays were the three parts of ,king ,henry ,,vi4 ,compensation ,if ,i die prematurely1 at any rate ,i shall be saved from being bored by my own success4 ,hudibras and ,erewhon ,i was completing the purchase of some small houses at ,lewisham and had to sign my name4 ,the vendor1 merely seeing the name and knowing none of my books1 said to me1 rather rudely1 but without meaning any mischief3 8,have you written any books like ,hudibras80 ,i said promptly3 8,certainly2 ,erewhon is quite as good a book as ,hudibras40 ,this was coming it too strong for him1 so he thought ,i had not heard and repeated his question4 ,i said again as before1 and he shut up4 ,i sent him a copy of ,erewhon immediately after we had completed4 ,it was rather tall talk on my part1 ,i admit1 but he should not have challenged me unprovoked4 ,life and ,habit and ,myself ,at the ,century ,club ,i was talking with a man who asked me why ,i did not publish the substance of what ,i had been saying4 ,i believed he knew me and said3 8,well1 you know1 there's ,life and ,habit40 ,he did not seem to rise at all1 so ,i asked him if he had seen the book4 8,seen it80 he answered4 8,why1 ,i should think every one has seen ,life and ,habit3 but what's that got to do with it80 ,i said it had taken me so much time lately that ,i had had none to spare for anything else4 ,again he did not seem to see the force of the remark and a friend1 who was close by1 said3 8,you know1 ,butler wrote ,life and ,habit40 ,he would not believe it1 and it was only after repeated assurance that he accepted it4 ,it was plain he thought a great deal of ,life and ,habit and had idealised its author1 whom he was disappointed to find so very commonplace a person4 ,exactly the same thing happened to me with ,erewhon4 ,i was glad to find that ,life and ,habit had made so deep an impression at any rate upon one person4 ,a ,disappointing ,person ,i suspect ,i am rather a disappointing person1 for every now and then there is a fuss and ,i am to meet some one who would very much like to make my acquaintance1 or some one writes me a letter and says he has long admired my books1 and may he1 etc48 ,of course ,i say 8,yes10 but experience has taught me that it always ends in turning some one who was more or less inclined to run me into one who considers he has a grievance against me for not being a very different kind of person from what ,i am4 ,these people however 7and this happens on an average once or twice a year7 do not come solely to see me1 they generally tell me all about themselves and the impression is left upon me that they have really come in order to be praised4 ,i am as civil to them as ,i know how to be but enthusiastic ,i never am1 for they have never any of them been nice people1 and it is my want of enthusiasm for themselves as much as anything else which disappoints them4 ,they seldom come again4 ,mr4 ,alfred ,tylor was the only acquaintance ,i have ever made through being sent for to be looked at1 or letting some one come to look at me1 who turned out a valuable ally2 but then he sent for me through mutual friends in the usual way4 ,entertaining ,angels ,i doubt whether any angel would find me very entertaining4 ,as for myself1 if ever ,i do entertain one it will have to be unawares4 ,when people entertain others without an introduction they generally turn out more like devils than angels4 ,myself and ,my ,books ,the balance against them is now over #cej4 ,how completely they must have been squashed unless ,i had had a little money of my own4 ,is it not likely that many a better writer than ,i am is squashed through want of money8 ,whatever ,i do ,i must not die poor2 these examples of ill-requited labour are immoral1 they discourage the effort of those who could and would do good things if they did not know that it would ruin themselves and their families2 moreover1 they set people on to pamper a dozen fools for each neglected man of merit1 out of compunction4 ,genius1 they say1 always wears an invisible cloak2 these men wear invisible cloaks--therefore they are geniuses2 and it flatters them to think that they can see more than their neighbours4 ,the neglect of one such man as the author of ,hudibras is compensated for by the petting of a dozen others who would be the first to jump upon the author of ,hudibras if he were to come back to life4 ,heaven forbid that ,i should compare myself to the author of ,hudibras1 but still1 if my books succeed after my death--which they may or may not1 ,i know nothing about it--any way1 if they do succeed1 let it be understood that they failed during my life for a few very obvious reasons of which ,i was quite aware1 for the effect of which ,i was prepared before ,i wrote my books1 and which on consideration ,i found insufficient to deter me4 ,i attacked people who were at once unscrupulous and powerful1 and ,i made no alliances4 ,i did this because ,i did not want to be bored and have my time wasted and my pleasures curtailed4 ,i had money enough to live on1 and preferred addressing myself to posterity rather than to any except a very few of my own contemporaries4 ,those few ,i have always kept well in mind4 ,i think of them continually when in doubt about any passage1 but beyond those few ,i will not go4 ,posterity will give a man a fair hearing2 his own times will not do so if he is attacking vested interests1 and ,i have attacked two powerful sets of vested interests at once4 ,the ,church and ,science4 ,what is the good of addressing people who will not listen8 ,i have addressed the next generation and have therefore said many things which want time before they become palatable4 ,any man who wishes his work to stand will sacrifice a good deal of his immediate audience for the sake of being attractive to a much larger number of people later on4 ,he cannot gain this later audience unless he has been fearless and thorough-going1 and if he is this he is sure to have to tread on the corns of a great many of those who live at the same time with him1 however little he may wish to do so4 ,he must not expect these people to help him on1 nor wonder if1 for a time1 they succeed in snuffing him out4 ,it is part of the swim that it should be so4 ,only1 as one who believes himself to have practised what he preaches1 let me assure any one who has money of his own that to write fearlessly for posterity and not get paid for it is much better fun than ,i can imagine its being to write like1 we will say1 ,george ,eliot and make a lot of money by it4 #ahhc4 ,dragons ,people say that there are neither dragons to be killed nor distressed maidens to be rescued nowadays4 ,i do not know1 but ,i think ,i have dropped across one or two1 nor do ,i feel sure whether the most mortal wounds have been inflicted by the dragons or by myself4 ,trying to ,know ,there are some things which it is madness not to try to know but which it is almost as much madness to try to know4 ,sometimes publishers1 hoping to buy the ,holy ,ghost with a price1 fee a man to read for them and advise them4 ,this is but as the vain tossing of insomnia4 ,god will not have any human being know what will sell1 nor when any one is going to die1 nor anything about the ultimate1 or even the deeper1 springs of growth and action1 nor yet such a little thing as whether it is going to rain to-morrow4 ,i do not say that the impossibility of being certain about these and similar matters was designed1 but it is as complete as though it had been not only designed but designed exceedingly well4 ,squaring ,accounts ,we owe past generations not only for the master discoveries of music1 science1 literature and art--few of which brought profit to those to whom they were revealed--but also for our organism itself which is an inheritance gathered and garnered by those who have gone before us4 ,what money have we paid not for ,handel and ,shakespeare only but for our eyes and ears8 ,and so with regard to our contemporaries4 ,a man is sometimes tempted to exclaim that he does not fare well at the hands of his own generation2 that1 although he may play pretty assiduously1 he is received with more hisses than applause2 that the public is hard to please1 slow to praise1 and bent on driving as hard a bargain as it can4 ,this1 however1 is only what he should expect4 ,no sensible man will suppose himself to be of so much importance that his contemporaries should be at much pains to get at the truth concerning him4 ,as for my own position1 if ,i say the things ,i want to say without troubling myself about the public1 why should ,i grumble at the public for not troubling about me8 ,besides1 not being paid myself1 ,i can in better conscience use the works of others1 as ,i daily do1 without paying for them and without being at the trouble of praising or thanking them more than ,i have a mind to4 ,and1 after all1 how can ,i say ,i am not paid8 ,in addition to all that ,i inherit from past generations ,i receive from my own everything that makes life worth living--,london1 with its infinite sources of pleasure and amusement1 good theatres1 concerts1 picture galleries1 the ,british ,museum ,reading-,room1 newspapers1 a comfortable dwelling1 railways and1 above all1 the society of the friends ,i value4 ,charles ,darwin on what ,sells a ,book ,i remember when ,i was at ,down we were talking of what it is that sells a book4 ,mr4 ,darwin said he did not believe it was reviews or advertisements1 but simply 8being talked about0 that sold a book4 ,i believe he is quite right here1 but surely a good flaming review helps to get a book talked about4 ,i have often inquired at my publishers' after a review and ,i never found one that made any perceptible increase or decrease of sale1 and the same with advertisements4 ,i think1 however1 that the review of ,erewhon in the ,spectator did sell a few copies of ,erewhon1 but then it was such a very strong one and the anonymousness of the book stimulated curiosity4 ,a perception of the value of a review1 whether friendly or hostile1 is as old as ,st4 ,paul's ,epistle to the ,philippians4 #afb ,hoodwinking the ,public ,sincerity or honesty is a low and very rudimentary form of virtue that is only to be found to any considerable extent among the protozoa4 ,compare1 for example1 the integrity1 sincerity and absolute refusal either to deceive or be deceived that exists in the germ-cells of any individual1 with the instinctive aptitude for lying that is to be observed in the full-grown man4 ,the full-grown man is compacted of lies and shams which are to him as the breath of his nostrils4 ,whereas the germ-cells will not be humbugged2 they will tell the truth as near as they can4 ,they know their ancestors meant well and will tend to become even more sincere themselves4 ,thus1 if a painter has not tried hard to paint well and has tried hard to hoodwink the public1 his offspring is not likely to show hereditary aptitude for painting1 but is likely to have an improved power of hoodwinking the public4 ,so it is with music1 literature1 science or anything else4 ,the only thing the public can do against this is to try hard to develop a hereditary power of not being hoodwinked4 ,from the small success it has met with hitherto we may think that the effort on its part can have been neither severe nor long sustained4 ,indeed1 all ages seem to have held that 8the pleasure is as great of being cheated as to cheat40 ,the ,public ,ear ,those who have squatted upon it may be trusted to keep off other squatters if they can4 ,the public ear is like the land which looks infinite but is all parcelled out into fields and private ownerships--barring1 of course1 highways and commons4 ,so the universe1 which looks so big1 may be supposed as really all parcelled out among the stars that stud it4 ,or the public ear is like a common2 there is not much to be got off it1 but that little is for the most part grazed down by geese and donkeys4 ,those who wish to gain the public ear should bear in mind that people do not generally want to be made less foolish or less wicked4 ,what they want is to be told that they are not foolish and not wicked4 ,now it is only a fool or a liar or both who can tell them this2 the masses therefore cannot be expected to like any but fools or liars or both4 ,so when a lady gets photographed1 what she wants is not to be made beautiful but to be told that she is beautiful4 ,secular ,thinking ,the ages do their thinking much as the individual does4 ,when considering a difficult question1 we think alternately for several seconds together of details1 even the minutest seeming important1 and then of broad general principles1 whereupon even large details become unimportant2 again we have bouts during which rules1 logic and technicalities engross us1 followed by others in which the unwritten and unwritable common sense of grace defies and over-rides the law4 ,that is to say1 we have our inductive fits and our deductive fits1 our arrangements according to the letter and according to the spirit1 our conclusions drawn from logic secundum artem and from absurdity and the character of the arguer4 ,this heterogeneous mass of considerations forms the mental pabulum with which we feed our minds4 ,how that pabulum becomes amalgamated1 reduced to uniformity and turned into the growth of complete opinion we can no more tell than we can say when1 how and where food becomes flesh and blood4 ,all we can say is that the miracle1 stupendous as it is and involving the stultification of every intelligible principle on which thought and action are based1 is nevertheless worked a thousand times an hour by every one of us4 ,the formation of public opinion is as mysterious as that of individual1 but1 so far as we can form any opinion about that which forms our opinions in such large measure1 the processes appear to resemble one another much as rain drops resemble one another4 ,there is essential agreement in spite of essential difference4 ,so that here1 as everywhere else1 we no sooner scratch the soil than we come upon the granite of contradiction in terms and can scratch no further4 ,as for ourselves1 we are passing through an inductive1 technical1 speculative period and have gone such lengths in this direction that a reaction1 during which we shall pass to the other extreme1 may be confidently predicted4 ,the ,art of ,propagating ,opinion ,he who would propagate an opinion must begin by making sure of his ground and holding it firmly4 ,there is as little use in trying to breed from weak opinion as from other weak stock1 animal or vegetable4 ,the more securely a man holds an opinion1 the more temperate he can afford to be1 and the more temperate he is1 the more weight he will carry with those who are in the long run weightiest4 ,ideas and opinions1 like living organisms1 have a normal rate of growth which cannot be either checked or forced beyond a certain point4 ,they can be held in check more safely than they can be hurried4 ,they can also be killed2 and one of the surest ways to kill them is to try to hurry them4 ,the more unpopular an opinion is1 the more necessary is it that the holder should be somewhat punctilious in his observance of conventionalities generally1 and that1 if possible1 he should get the reputation of being well-to-do in the world4 ,arguments are not so good as assertion4 ,arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him4 ,indirect assertion1 leaving the hearer to point the inference1 is1 as a rule1 to be preferred4 ,the one great argument with most people is that another should think this or that4 ,the reasons of the belief are details and1 in nine cases out of ten1 best omitted as confusing and weakening the general impression4 ,many1 if not most1 good ideas die young--mainly from neglect on the part of the parents1 but sometimes from over-fondness4 ,once well started1 an opinion had better be left to shift for itself4 ,insist as far as possible on the insignificance of the points of difference as compared with the resemblances to opinions generally accepted4 ,gladstone as a ,financier ,i said to my tobacconist that ,gladstone was not a financier because he bought a lot of china at high prices and it fetched very little when it was sold at ,christie's4 8,did he give high prices80 said the tobacconist4 8,enormous prices10 said ,i emphatically4 ,now1 to tell the truth1 ,i did not know whether ,mr4 ,gladstone had ever bought the china at all1 much less what he gave for it1 if he did2 he may have had it all left him for aught ,i knew4 ,but ,i was going to appeal to my tobacconist by arguments that he could understand1 and ,i could see he was much impressed4 ,argument ,argument is generally waste of time and trouble4 ,it is better to present one's opinion and leave it to stick or no as it may happen4 ,if sound1 it will probably in the end stick1 and the sticking is the main thing4 ,humour ,what a frightful thing it would be if true humour were more common or1 rather1 more easy to see1 for it is more common than those are who can see it4 ,it would block the way of everything4 ,perhaps this is what people rather feel4 ,it would be like ,music in the ,ode for ,st4 ,cecilia's ,day1 it would 8untune the sky40 ,i do not know quite what is meant by untuning the sky and1 if ,i did1 ,i cannot think that there is anything to be particularly gained by having the sky untuned2 still1 if it has got to be untuned at all1 ,i am sure music is the only thing that can untune it4 ,rapson1 however1 whom ,i used to see in the coin room at the ,british ,museum1 told me it should be 8entune the sky0 and it sounds as though he were right4 ,myself and 8,unconscious ,humour0 ,the phrase 8unconscious humour0 is the one contribution ,i have made to the current literature of the day4 ,i am continually seeing unconscious humour 7without quotation marks7 alluded to in ,times articles and other like places1 but ,i never remember to have come across it as a synonym for dullness till ,i wrote ,life and ,habit4 ,my ,humour ,the thing to say about me just now is that my humour is forced4 ,this began to reach me in connection with my article 8,quis ,desiderio 4 4 480 ,universal ,review1 #ahhh and is now1 #ahhi ,i understand1 pretty generally perceived even by those who had not found it out for themselves4 ,i am not aware of forcing myself to say anything which has not amused me1 which is not apposite and which ,i do not believe will amuse a neutral reader1 but ,i may very well do so without knowing it4 ,as for my humour1 ,i am like my father and grandfather1 both of whom liked a good thing heartily enough if it was told them1 but ,i do not often say a good thing myself4 ,very likely my humour1 what little there is of it1 is forced enough4 ,i do not care so long as it amuses me and1 such as it is1 ,i shall vent it in my own way and at my own time4 ,myself and ,my ,publishers ,i see my publishers are bringing out a new magazine with all the usual contributors4 ,of course they don't ask me to write and this shows that they do not think my name would help their magazine4 ,this1 ,i imagine1 means that ,andrew ,lang has told them that my humour is forced4 ,i should not myself say that ,andrew ,lang's humour would lose by a little forcing4 ,i have seen enough of my publishers to know that they have no ideas of their own about literature save what they can clutch at as believing it to be a straight tip from a business point of view4 ,heaven forbid that ,i should blame them for doing exactly what ,i should do myself in their place1 but1 things being as they are1 they are no use to me4 ,they have no confidence in me and they must have this or they will do nothing for me beyond keeping my books on their shelves4 ,perhaps it is better that ,i should not have a chance of becoming a hack-writer1 for ,i should grasp it at once if it were offered me4 ,,xi ,cash and ,credit ,the ,unseen ,world ,i ,,believe there is an unseen world about which we know nothing as firmly as any one can believe it4 ,i see things coming up from it into the visible world and going down again from the seen world to the unseen4 ,but my unseen world is to be bona fide unseen and1 in so far as ,i say ,i know anything about it1 ,i stultify myself4 ,it should no more be described than ,god should be represented in painting or sculpture4 ,it is as the other side of the moon2 we know it must be there but we know also that1 in the nature of things1 we can never see it4 ,sometimes1 some trifle of it may sway into sight and out again1 but it is so little that it is not worth counting as having been seen4 ,the ,kingdom of ,heaven ,the world admits that there is another world1 that there is a kingdom1 veritable and worth having1 which1 nevertheless1 is invisible and has nothing to do with any kingdom such as we now see4 ,it agrees that the wisdom of this other kingdom is foolishness here on earth1 while the wisdom of the world is foolishness in the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,in our hearts we know that the ,kingdom of ,heaven is the higher of the two and the better worth living and dying for1 and that1 if it is to be won1 it must be sought steadfastly and in singleness of heart by those who put all else on one side and1 shrinking from no sacrifice1 are ready to face shame1 poverty and torture here rather than abandon the hope of the prize of their high calling4 ,nobody who doubts any of this is worth talking with4 ,the question is1 where is this ,heavenly ,kingdom1 and what way are we to take to find it8 ,happily the answer is easy1 for we are not likely to go wrong if in all simplicity1 humility and good faith we heartily desire to find it and follow the dictates of ordinary common-sense4 ,the ,philosopher ,he should have made many mistakes and been saved often by the skin of his teeth1 for the skin of one's teeth is the most teaching thing about one4 ,he should have been1 or at any rate believed himself1 a great fool and a great criminal4 ,he should have cut himself adrift from society1 and yet not be without society4 ,he should have given up all1 even ,christ himself1 for ,christ's sake4 ,he should be above fear or love or hate1 and yet know them extremely well4 ,he should have lost all save a small competence and know what a vantage ground it is to be an outcast4 ,destruction and ,death say they have heard the fame of ,wisdom with their ears1 and the philosopher must have been close up to these if he too would hear it4 ,the ,artist and the ,shopkeeper ,most artists1 whether in religion1 music1 literature1 painting1 or what not1 are shopkeepers in disguise4 ,they hide their shop as much as they can1 and keep pretending that it does not exist1 but they are essentially shopkeepers and nothing else4 ,why do ,i try to sell my books and feel regret at never seeing them pay their expenses if ,i am not a shopkeeper8 ,of course ,i am1 only ,i keep a bad shop--a shop that does not pay4 ,in like manner1 the professed shopkeeper has generally a taint of the artist somewhere about him which he tries to conceal as much as the professed artist tries to conceal his shopkeeping4 ,the business man and the artist are like matter and mind4 ,we can never get either pure and without some alloy of the other4 ,art and ,trade ,people confound literature and article-dealing because the plant in both cases is similar1 but no two things can be more distinct4 ,neither the question of money nor that of friend or foe can enter into literature proper4 ,here1 right feeling--or good taste1 if this expression be preferred--is alone considered4 ,if a bona fide writer thinks a thing wants saying1 he will say it as tersely1 clearly and elegantly as he can4 ,the question whether it will do him personally good or harm1 or how it will affect this or that friend1 never enters his head1 or1 if it does1 it is instantly ordered out again4 ,the only personal gratifications allowed him 7apart1 of course1 from such as are conceded to every one1 writer or no7 are those of keeping his good name spotless among those whose opinion is alone worth having and of maintaining the highest traditions of a noble calling4 ,if a man lives in fear and trembling lest he should fail in these respects1 if he finds these considerations alone weigh with him1 if he never writes without thinking how he shall best serve good causes and damage bad ones1 then he is a genuine man of letters4 ,if in addition to this he succeeds in making his manner attractive1 he will become a classic4 ,he knows this4 ,he knows1 although the ,greeks in their mythology forgot to say so1 that ,conceit was saved to mankind as well as ,hope when ,pandora clapped the lid on to her box4 ,with the article-dealer1 on the other hand1 money is1 and ought to be1 the first consideration4 ,literature is an art2 article-writing1 when a man is paid for it1 is a trade and none the worse for that2 but pot-boilers are one thing and genuine pictures are another4 ,people have indeed been paid for some of the most genuine pictures ever painted1 and so with music1 and so with literature itself--hard-and-fast lines ever cut the fingers of those who draw them--but1 as a general rule1 most lasting art has been poorly paid1 so far as money goes1 till the artist was near the end of his time1 and1 whether money passed or no1 we may be sure that it was not thought of4 ,such work is done as a bird sings--for the love of the thing2 it is persevered in as long as body and soul can be kept together1 whether there be pay or no1 and perhaps better if there be no pay4 ,nevertheless1 though art disregards money and trade disregards art1 the artist may stand not a little trade-alloy and be even toughened by it1 and the tradesmen may be more than half an artist4 ,art is in the world but not of it2 it lives in a kingdom of its own1 governed by laws that none but artists can understand4 ,this1 at least1 is the ideal towards which an artist tends1 though we all very well know we none of us reach it4 ,with the trade it is exactly the reverse2 this world is1 and ought to be1 everything1 and the invisible world is as little to the trade as this visible world is to the artist4 ,when ,i say the artist tends towards such a world1 ,i mean not that he tends consciously and reasoningly but that his instinct to take this direction will be too strong to let him take any other4 ,he is incapable of reasoning on the subject2 if he could reason he would be lost qua artist2 for1 by every test that reason can apply1 those who sell themselves for a price are in the right4 ,the artist is guided by a faith that for him transcends all reason4 ,granted that this faith has been in great measure founded on reason1 that it has grown up along with reason1 that if it lose touch with reason it is no longer faith but madness2 granted1 again1 that reason is in great measure founded on faith1 that it has grown up along with faith1 that if it lose touch with faith it is no longer reason but mechanism2 granted1 therefore1 that faith grows with reason as will with power1 as demand with supply1 as mind with body1 each stimulating and augmenting the other until an invisible1 minute nucleus attains colossal growth--nevertheless the difference between the man of the world and the man who lives by faith is that the first is drawn towards the one and the second towards the other of two principles which1 so far as we can see1 are co-extensive and co-equal in importance4 ,money ,it is curious that money1 which is the most valuable thing in life1 exceptis excipiendis1 should be the most fatal corrupter of music1 literature1 painting and all the arts4 ,as soon as any art is pursued with a view to money1 then farewell1 in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred1 all hope of genuine good work4 ,if a man has money at his back1 he may touch these things and do something which will live a long while1 and he may be very happy in doing it2 if he has no money1 he may do good work1 but the chances are he will be killed in doing it and for having done it2 or he may make himself happy by doing bad work and getting money out of it1 and there is no great harm in this1 provided he knows his work is done in this spirit and rates it for its commercial value only4 ,still1 as a rule1 a man should not touch any of the arts as a creator unless be has a discreta posizionina behind him4 ,modern ,simony ,it is not the dealing in livings but the thinking they can buy the ,holy ,ghost for money which vulgar rich people indulge in when they dabble in literature1 music and painting4 ,nevertheless1 on reflection it must be admitted that the ,holy ,ghost is very hard to come by without money4 ,for the ,holy ,ghost is only another term for the ,fear of the ,lord1 which is ,wisdom4 ,and though ,wisdom cannot be gotten for gold1 still less can it be gotten without it4 ,gold1 or the value that is equivalent to gold1 lies at the root of ,wisdom1 and enters so largely into the very essence of the ,holy ,ghost that 8,no gold1 no ,holy ,ghost0 may pass as an axiom4 ,this is perhaps why it is not easy to buy ,wisdom by whatever name it be called--,i mean1 because it is almost impossible to sell it4 ,it is a very unmarketable commodity1 as those who have received it truly know to their own great bane and boon4 ,my ,grandfather and ,myself ,my grandfather worked very hard all his life1 and was making money all the time until he became a bishop4 ,i have worked very hard all my life1 but have never been able to earn money4 ,as usefulness is generally counted1 no one can be more useless4 ,this ,i believe to be largely due to the public-school and university teaching through which my grandfather made his money4 ,yes1 but then if he is largely responsible for that which has made me useless1 has he not also left me the hardly-won money which makes my uselessness sufficiently agreeable to myself8 ,and would not the poor old gentleman gladly change lots with me1 if he could8 ,i do not know2 but ,i should be sorry to change lots with him or with any one else1 so ,i need not grumble4 ,i said in ,luck or ,cunning8 that the only way 7at least ,i think ,i said so7 in which a teacher can thoroughly imbue an unwilling learner with his own opinions is for the teacher to eat the pupil up and thus assimilate him--if he can1 for it is possible that the pupil may continue to disagree with the teacher4 ,and as a matter of fact1 school-masters do live upon their pupils1 and ,i1 as my grandfather's grandson1 continue to batten upon old pupil4 ,art and ,usefulness ,tedder1 the ,librarian of the ,athenum1 said to me when ,i told him 7,i have only seen him twice7 what poor success my books had met with3 8,yes1 but you have made the great mistake of being useful40 ,this1 for the moment1 displeased me1 for ,i know that ,i have always tried to make my work useful and should not care about doing it at all unless ,i believed it to subserve use more or less directly4 ,yet when ,i look at those works which we all hold to be the crowning glories of the world as1 for example1 the ,iliad1 the ,odyssey1 ,hamlet1 the ,messiah1 ,rembrandt's portraits1 or ,holbein's1 or ,giovanni ,bellini's1 the connection between them and use is1 to say the least of it1 far from obvious4 ,music1 indeed1 can hardly be tortured into being useful at all1 unless to drown the cries of the wounded in battle1 or to enable people to talk more freely at evening parties4 ,the uses1 again1 of painting in its highest forms are very doubtful--,i mean in any material sense2 in its lower forms1 when it becomes more diagrammatic1 it is materially useful4 ,literature may be useful from its lowest forms to nearly its highest1 but the highest cannot be put in harness to any but spiritual uses2 and the fact remains that the 8,hallelujah ,chorus10 the speech of ,hamlet to the players1 ,bellini's 8,doge0 have their only uses in a spiritual world whereto the word 8uses0 is as alien as bodily flesh is to a choir of angels4 ,as it is fatal to the highest art that it should have been done for money1 so it seems hardly less fatal that it should be done with a view to those uses that tend towards money4 ,and yet1 was not the ,iliad written mainly with a view to money8 ,did not ,shakespeare make money by his plays1 ,handel by his music1 and the noblest painters by their art8 ,true2 but in all these cases1 ,i take it1 love of fame and that most potent and1 at the same time1 unpractical form of it1 the lust after fame beyond the grave1 was the mainspring of the action1 the money being but a concomitant accident4 ,money is like the wind that bloweth whithersoever it listeth1 sometimes it chooses to attach itself to high feats of literature and art and music1 but more commonly it prefers lower company 4 4 4 ,i can continue this note no further1 for there is no end to it4 ,briefly1 the world resolves itself into two great classes--those who hold that honour after death is better worth having than any honour a man can get and know anything about1 and those who doubt this2 to my mind1 those who hold it1 and hold it firmly1 are the only people worth thinking about4 ,they will also hold that1 important as the physical world obviously is1 the spiritual world1 of which we know little beyond its bare existence1 is more important still4 ,genius i ,genius is akin both to madness and inspiration and1 as every one is both more or less inspired and more or less mad1 every one has more or less genius4 ,when1 therefore1 we speak of genius we do not mean an absolute thing which some men have and others have not1 but a small scale-turning overweight of a something which we all have but which we cannot either define or apprehend--the quantum which we all have being allowed to go without saying4 ,this small excess weight has been defined as a supreme capacity for taking trouble1 but he who thus defined it can hardly claim genius in respect of his own definition--his capacity for taking trouble does not seem to have been abnormal4 ,it might be more fitly described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds and keeping them therein so long as the genius remains4 ,people who are credited with genius have1 indeed1 been sometimes very painstaking1 but they would often show more signs of genius if they had taken less4 8,you have taken too much trouble with your opera10 said ,handel to ,gluck4 ,it is not likely that the 8,hailstone ,chorus0 or ,mrs4 ,quickly cost their creators much pains1 indeed1 we commonly feel the ease with which a difficult feat has been performed to be a more distinctive mark of genius than the fact that the performer took great pains before he could achieve it4 ,pains can serve genius1 or even mar it1 but they cannot make it4 ,we can rarely1 however1 say what pains have or have not been taken in any particular case1 for1 over and above the spent pains of a man's early efforts1 the force of which may carry him far beyond all trace of themselves1 there are the still more remote and invisible ancestral pains1 repeated we know not how often or in what fortunate correlation with pains taken in some other and unseen direction4 ,this points to the conclusion that1 though it is wrong to suppose the essence of genius to lie in a capacity for taking pains1 it is right to hold that it must have been rooted in pains and that it cannot have grown up without them4 ,genius1 again1 might1 perhaps almost as well1 be defined as a supreme capacity for saving other people from having to take pains1 if the highest flights of genius did not seem to know nothing about pains one way or the other4 ,what trouble can ,hamlet or the ,iliad save to any one8 ,genius can1 and does1 save it sometimes2 the genius of ,newton may have saved a good deal of trouble one way or another1 but it has probably engendered as much new as it has saved old4 ,this1 however1 is all a matter of chance1 for genius never seems to care whether it makes the burden or bears it4 ,the only certain thing is that there will be a burden1 for the ,holy ,ghost has ever tended towards a breach of the peace1 and the ,new ,jerusalem1 when it comes1 will probably be found so far to resemble the old as to stone its prophets freely4 ,the world thy world is a jealous world1 and thou shalt have none other worlds but it4 ,genius points to change1 and change is a hankering after another world1 so the old world suspects it4 ,genius disturbs order1 it unsettles mores and hence it is immoral4 ,on a small scale it is intolerable1 but genius will have no small scales2 it is even more immoral for a man to be too far in front than to lag too far behind4 ,the only absolute morality is absolute stagnation1 but this is unpractical1 so a peck of change is permitted to every one1 but it must be a peck only1 whereas genius would have ever so many sacks full4 ,there is a myth among some ,eastern nation that at the birth of ,genius an unkind fairy marred all the good gifts of the other fairies by depriving it of the power of knowing where to stop4 ,nor does genius care more about money than about trouble4 ,it is no respecter of time1 trouble1 money or persons1 the four things round which human affairs turn most persistently4 ,it will not go a hair's breadth from its way either to embrace fortune or to avoid her4 ,it is1 like ,love1 8too young to know the worth of gold40 #agf ,it knows1 indeed1 both love and hate1 but not as we know them1 for it will fly for help to its bitterest foe1 or attack its dearest friend in the interests of the art it serves4 ,yet this genius1 which so despises the world1 is the only thing of which the world is permanently enamoured1 and the more it flouts the world1 the more the world worships it1 when it has once well killed it in the flesh4 ,who can understand this eternal crossing in love and contradiction in terms which warps the woof of actions and things from the atom to the universe8 ,the more a man despises time1 trouble1 money1 persons1 place and everything on which the world insists as most essential to salvation1 the more pious will this same world hold him to have been4 ,what a fund of universal unconscious scepticism must underlie the world's opinions6 ,for we are all alike in our worship of genius that has passed through the fire4 ,nor can this universal instinctive consent be explained otherwise than as the welling up of a spring whose sources lie deep in the conviction that great as this world is1 it masks a greater wherein its wisdom is folly and which we know as blind men know where the sun is shining1 certainly1 but not distinctly4 ,this should in itself be enough to prove that such a world exists1 but there is still another proof in the fact that so many come among us showing instinctive and ineradicable familiarity with a state of things which has no counterpart here1 and cannot1 therefore1 have been acquired here4 ,from such a world we come1 every one of us1 but some seem to have a more living recollection of it than others4 ,perfect recollection of it no man can have1 for to put on flesh is to have all one's other memories jarred beyond power of conscious recognition4 ,and genius must put on flesh1 for it is only by the hook and crook of taint and flesh that tainted beings like ourselves can apprehend it1 only in and through flesh can it be made manifest to us at all4 ,the flesh and the shop will return no matter with how many pitchforks we expel them1 for we cannot conceivably expel them thoroughly2 therefore it is better not to be too hard upon them4 ,and yet this same flesh cloaks genius at the very time that it reveals it4 ,it seems as though the flesh must have been on and must have gone clean off before genius can be discerned1 and also that we must stand a long way from it1 for the world grows more and more myopic as it grows older4 ,and this brings another trouble1 for by the time the flesh has gone off it enough1 and it is far enough away for us to see it without glasses1 the chances are we shall have forgotten its very existence and lose the wish to see at the very moment of becoming able to do so4 ,hence there appears to be no remedy for the oft-repeated complaint that the world knows nothing of its greatest men4 ,how can it be expected to do so8 ,and how can its greatest men be expected to know more than a very little of the world8 ,at any rate1 they seldom do1 and it is just because they cannot and do not that1 if they ever happen to be found out at all1 they are recognised as the greatest and the world weeps and wrings its hands that it cannot know more about them4 ,lastly1 if genius cannot be bought with money1 still less can it sell what it produces4 ,the only price that can be paid for genius is suffering1 and this is the only wages it can receive4 ,the only work that has any considerable permanence is written1 more or less consciously1 in the blood of the writer1 or in that of his or her forefathers4 ,genius is like money1 or1 again1 like crime1 every one has a little1 if it be only a half-penny1 and he can beg or steal this much if he has not got it2 but those who have little are rarely very fond of millionaires4 ,people generally like and understand best those who are of much about the same social standing and money status as their own2 and so it is for the most part as between those who have only the average amount of genius and the ,homers1 ,shakespeares and ,handels of the race4 ,and yet1 so paradoxical is everything connected with genius1 that it almost seems as though the nearer people stood to one another in respect either of money or genius1 the more jealous they become of one another4 ,i have read somewhere that ,thackeray was one day flattening his nose against a grocer's window and saw two bags of sugar1 one marked tenpence halfpenny and the other elevenpence 7for sugar has come down since ,thackeray's time74 ,as he left the window he was heard to say1 8,how they must hate one another60 ,so it is in the animal and vegetable worlds4 ,the war of extermination is generally fiercest between the most nearly allied species1 for these stand most in one another's light4 ,so here again the same old paradox and contradiction in terms meets us1 like a stone wall1 in the fact that we love best those who are in the main like ourselves1 but when they get too like1 we hate them1 and1 at the same time1 we hate most those who are unlike ourselves1 but if they become unlike enough1 we may often be very fond of them4 ,genius must make those that have it think apart1 and to think apart is to take one's view of things instead of being1 like ,poins1 a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks4 ,a man who thinks for himself knows what others do not1 but does not know what others know4 ,hence the belli causa1 for he cannot serve two masters1 the ,god of his own inward light and the ,mammon of common sense1 at one and the same time4 ,how can a man think apart and not apart8 ,but if he is a genius this is the riddle he must solve4 ,the uncommon sense of genius and the common sense of the rest of the world are thus as husband and wife to one another2 they are always quarrelling1 and common sense1 who must be taken to be the husband1 always fancies himself the master--nevertheless genius is generally admitted to be the better half4 ,he who would know more of genius must turn to what he can find in the poets1 or to whatever other sources he may discover1 for ,i can help him no further4 ii ,the destruction of great works of literature and art is as necessary for the continued development of either one or the other as death is for that of organic life4 ,we fight against it as long as we can1 and often stave it off successfully both for ourselves and others1 but there is nothing so great--not ,homer1 ,shakespeare1 ,handel1 ,rembrandt1 ,giovanni ,bellini1 ,de ,hooghe1 ,velasquez and the goodly company of other great men for whose lives we would gladly give our own--but it has got to go sooner or later and leave no visible traces1 though the invisible ones endure from everlasting to everlasting4 ,it is idle to regret this for ourselves or others1 our effort should tend towards enjoying and being enjoyed as highly and for as long time as we can1 and then chancing the rest4 iii ,inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time4 ,true inspiration always steals on a person2 its importance not being fully recognised for some time4 ,so men of genius always escape their own immediate belongings1 and indeed generally their own age4 iv ,dullness is so much stronger than genius because there is so much more of it1 and it is better organised and more naturally cohesive inter se4 ,so the arctic volcano can do no thing against arctic ice4 v ,america will have her geniuses1 as every other country has1 in fact she has already had one in ,walt ,whitman1 but ,i do not think ,america is a good place in which to be a genius4 ,a genius can never expect to have a good time anywhere1 if he is a genuine article1 but ,america is about the last place in which life will be endurable at all for an inspired writer of any kind4 ,great ,things ,all men can do great things1 if they know what great things are4 ,so hard is this last that even where it exists the knowledge is as much unknown as known to them that have it and is more a leaning upon the ,lord than a willing of one that willeth4 ,and yet all the leaning on the ,lord in ,christendom fails if there be not a will of him that willeth to back it up4 ,god and the man are powerless without one another4 ,genius and ,providence ,among all the evidences for the existence of an overruling ,providence that ,i can discover1 ,i see none more convincing than the elaborate and for the most part effectual provision that has been made for the suppression of genius4 ,the more ,i see of the world1 the more necessary ,i see it to be that by far the greater part of what is written or done should be of so fleeting a character as to take itself away quickly4 ,that is the advantage in the fact that so much of our literature is journalism4 ,schools and colleges are not intended to foster genius and to bring it out4 ,genius is a nuisance1 and it is the duty of schools and colleges to abate it by setting genius-traps in its way4 ,they are as the artificial obstructions in a hurdle race--tests of skill and endurance1 but in themselves useless4 ,still1 so necessary is it that genius and originality should be abated that1 did not academies exist1 we should have had to invent them4 ,the ,art of ,covery ,this is as important and interesting as ,dis-covery4 ,surely the glory of finally getting rid of and burying a long and troublesome matter should be as great as that of making an important discovery4 ,the trouble is that the coverer is like ,samson who perished in the wreck of what he had destroyed2 if he gets rid of a thing effectually he gets rid of himself too4 ,wanted ,we want a ,society for the ,suppression of ,erudite ,research and the ,decent ,burial of the ,past4 ,the ghosts of the dead past want quite as much laying as raising4 ,ephemeral and ,permanent ,success ,the supposition that the world is ever in league to put a man down is childish4 ,hardly less childish is it for an author to lay the blame on reviewers4 ,a good sturdy author is a match for a hundred reviewers4 ,he1 ,i grant1 knows nothing of either literature or science who does not know that a mot d'ordre given by a few wire-pullers can1 for a time1 make or mar any man's success4 ,people neither know what it is they like nor do they want to find out1 all they care about is the being supposed to derive their likings from the best ,west-end magazines1 so they look to the shop with the largest plate-glass windows and take what the shop-man gives them4 ,but no amount of plate-glass can carry off more than a certain amount of false pretences1 and there is no mot d'ordre that can keep a man permanently down if he is as intent on winning lasting good name as ,i have been4 ,if ,i had played for immediate popularity ,i think ,i could have won it4 ,having played for lasting credit ,i doubt not that it will in the end be given me4 ,a man should not be held to be ill-used for not getting what he has not played for4 ,i am not saying that it is better or more honourable to play for lasting than for immediate success4 ,i know which ,i myself find pleasanter1 but that has nothing to do with it4 ,it is a nice question whether the light or the heavy armed soldier of literature and art is the more useful4 ,i joined the plodders and have aimed at permanent good name rather than brilliancy4 ,i have no doubt ,i did this because instinct told me 7for ,i never thought about it7 that this would be the easier and less thorny path4 ,i have more of perseverance than of those1 perhaps1 even more valuable gifts--facility and readiness of resource4 ,i hate being hurried4 ,moreover ,i am too fond of independence to get on with the leaders of literature and science4 ,independence is essential for permanent but fatal to immediate success4 ,besides1 luck enters much more into ephemeral than into permanent success and ,i have always distrusted luck4 ,those who play a waiting game have matters more in their own hands1 time gives them double chances2 whereas if success does not come at once to the ephemerid he misses it altogether4 ,i know that the ordinary reviewer who either snarls at my work or misrepresents it or ignores it or1 again1 who pats it sub-contemptuously on the back is as honourably and usefully employed as ,i am4 ,in the kingdom of literature 7as ,i have just been saying in the ,universal ,review about ,science7 there are many mansions and what is intolerable in one is common form in another4 ,it is a case of the division of labour and a man will gravitate towards one class of workers or another according as he is built4 ,there is neither higher nor lower about it4 ,i should like to put it on record that ,i understand it and am not inclined to regret the arrangements that have made me possible4 ,my ,birthright ,i had to steal my own birthright4 ,i stole it and was bitterly punished4 ,but ,i saved my soul alive4 ,,xii ,the ,enfant ,terrible of ,literature ,myself ,i ,,am the enfant terrible of literature and science4 ,if ,i cannot1 and ,i know ,i cannot1 get the literary and scientific big-wigs to give me a shilling1 ,i can1 and ,i know ,i can1 heave bricks into the middle of them4 ,blake1 ,dante1 ,virgil and ,tennyson ,talking it over1 we agreed that ,blake was no good because he learnt ,italian at #fj in order to study ,dante1 and we knew ,dante was no good because he was so fond of ,virgil1 and ,virgil was no good because ,tennyson ran him1 and as for ,tennyson--well1 ,tennyson goes without saying4 ,my ,father and ,shakespeare ,my father is one of the few men ,i know who say they do not like ,shakespeare4 ,i could forgive my father for not liking ,shakespeare if it was only because ,shakespeare wrote poetry2 but this is not the reason4 ,he dislikes ,shakespeare because he finds him so very coarse4 ,he also says he likes ,tennyson and this seriously aggravates his offence4 ,tennyson ,we were saying what a delightful dispensation of providence it was that prosperous people will write their memoirs4 ,we hoped ,tennyson was writing his4 #ahij4 ,p4,s4--,we think his son has done nearly as well4 #ahih4 ,walter ,pater and ,matthew ,arnold ,mr4 ,walter ,pater's style is1 to me1 like the face of some old woman who has been to ,madame ,rachel and had herself enamelled4 ,the bloom is nothing but powder and paint and the odour is cherry-blossom4 ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold's odour is as the faint sickliness of hawthorn4 ,my ,random ,passages ,at the ,century ,club a friend very kindly and hesitatingly ventured to suggest to me that ,i should get some one to go over my ,,ms4 before printing2 a judicious editor1 he said1 would have prevented me from printing many a bit which1 it seemed to him1 was written too recklessly and offhand4 ,the fact is that the more reckless and random a passage appears to be1 the more carefully it has been submitted to friends and considered and re-considered2 without the support of friends ,i should never have dared to print one half of what ,i have printed4 ,i am not one of those who can repeat the ,general ,confession unreservedly4 ,i should say rather3 8,i have left unsaid much that ,i am sorry ,i did not say1 but ,i have said little that ,i am sorry for having said1 and ,i am pretty well on the whole1 thank you40 ,moral ,try-,your-,strengths ,there are people who1 if they only had a slot1 might turn a pretty penny as moral try-your-strengths1 like those we see in railway-stations for telling people their physical strength when they have dropped a penny in the slot4 ,in a way they have a slot1 which is their mouths1 and people drop pennies in by asking them to dinner1 and then they try their strength against them and get snubbed2 but this way is roundabout and expensive4 ,we want a good automatic asinometer by which we can tell at a moderate cost how great or how little of a fool we are4 ,populus ,vult ,if people like being deceived--and this can hardly be doubted--there can rarely have been a time during which they can have had more of the wish than now4 ,the literary1 scientific and religious worlds vie with one another in trying to gratify the public4 ,men and ,monkeys ,in his latest article 7,feb4 #ahib7 ,prof4 ,garner says that the chatter of monkeys is not meaningless1 but that they are conveying ideas to one another4 ,this seems to me hazardous4 ,the monkeys might with equal justice conclude that in our magazine articles1 or literary and artistic criticisms1 we are not chattering idly but are conveying ideas to one another4 8,one ,touch of ,nature0 8,one touch of nature makes the whole world kin40 ,should it not be 8marks10 not 8makes08 ,there is one touch of nature1 or natural feature1 which marks all mankind as of one family4 ,p4,s4--,surely it should be 8of ill-nature40 8,one touch of ill-nature marks--or several touches of ill-nature mark the whole world kin40 ,genuine ,feeling ,in the ,times of to-day1 ,june #d1 #ahhg1 there is an obituary notice of a ,rev4 ,mr4 ,knight who wrote about #bjj songs1 among others 8,she wore a wreath of roses40 ,the ,times says that1 though these songs have no artistic merit1 they are full of genuine feeling1 or words to this effect2 as though a song which was full of genuine feeling could by any possibility be without artistic merit4 ,george ,meredith ,the ,times in a leading article says 7,jany4 #c1 #ahii7 8a talker10 as ,mr4 ,george ,meredith has somewhere said1 8involves the existence of a talkee10 or words to this effect4 ,i said what comes to the same thing as this in ,life and ,habit in #ahgg1 and ,i repeated it in the preface to my translation of the ,iliad in #ahih4 ,i do not believe ,george ,meredith has said anything to the same effect1 but ,i have read so very little of that writer1 and have so utterly rejected what ,i did read1 that he may well have done so without my knowing it4 ,he damned ,erewhon1 as ,chapman and ,hall's reader1 in #ahga1 and1 as ,i am still raw about this after #bh years1 7,i am afraid unless ,i say something more ,i shall be taken as writing these words seriously7 ,i prefer to assert that the ,times writer was quoting from my preface to the ,iliad1 published a few weeks earlier1 and fathering the remark on ,george ,meredith4 ,by the way the ,times did not give so much as a line to my translation in its 8,books of the ,week10 though it was duly sent to them4 ,froude and ,freeman ,i think it was last ,saturday 7,ap4 #i7 7at any rate it was a day just thereabouts7 the ,times had a leader on ,froude's appointment as ,reg4 ,prof4 of ,mod4 ,hist4 at ,oxford4 ,it said ,froude was perhaps our greatest living master of style1 or words to that effect1 only that1 like ,freeman1 he was too long3 i4e4 only he is an habitual offender against the most fundamental principles of his art4 ,if then ,froude is our greatest master of style1 what are the rest of us8 ,there was a much better article yesterday on ,marbot1 on which my namesake ,a4 ,j4 ,butler got a dressing for talking rubbish about style4 #ahib4 ,style ,in this day's ,sunday ,times there is an article on ,mrs4 ,browning's letters which begins with some remarks about style4 8,it is recorded10 says the writer1 8of ,plato1 that in a rough draft of one of his ,dialogues1 found after his death1 the first paragraph was written in seventy different forms4 ,wordsworth spared no pains to sharpen and polish to the utmost the gifts with which nature had endowed him2 and ,cardinal ,newman1 one of the greatest masters of ,english style1 has related in an amusing essay the pains he took to acquire his style40 ,i never knew a writer yet who took the smallest pains with his style and was at the same time readable4 ,plato's having had seventy shies at one sentence is quite enough to explain to me why ,i dislike him4 ,a man may1 and ought to take a great deal of pains to write clearly1 tersely and euphemistically3 he will write many a sentence three or four times over--to do much more than this is worse than not rewriting at all3 he will be at great pains to see that he does not repeat himself1 to arrange his matter in the way that shall best enable the reader to master it1 to cut out superfluous words and1 even more1 to eschew irrelevant matter3 but in each case he will be thinking not of his own style but of his reader's convenience4 ,men like ,newman and ,r4 ,l4 ,stevenson seem to have taken pains to acquire what they called a style as a preliminary measure--as something that they had to form before their writings could be of any value4 ,i should like to put it on record that ,i never took the smallest pains with my style1 have never thought about it1 and do not know or want to know whether it is a style at all or whether it is not1 as ,i believe and hope1 just common1 simple straightforwardness4 ,i cannot conceive how any man can take thought for his style without loss to himself and his readers4 ,i have1 however1 taken all the pains that ,i had patience to endure in the improvement of my handwriting 7which1 by the way1 has a constant tendency to resume feral characteristics7 and also with my ,,ms4 generally to keep it clean and legible4 ,i am having a great tidying just now1 in the course of which the ,,ms4 of ,erewhon turned up1 and ,i was struck with the great difference between it and the ,,ms4 of ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey4 ,i have also taken great pains1 with what success ,i know not1 to correct impatience1 irritability and other like faults in my own character--and this not because ,i care two straws about my own character1 but because ,i find the correction of such faults as ,i have been able to correct makes life easier and saves me from getting into scrapes1 and attaches nice people to me more readily4 ,but ,i suppose this really is attending to style after all4 #ahig4 ,diderot on ,criticism 8,il est si difficile de produire une chose mme mdiocre2 il est si facile de sentir la mdiocrit40 ,i have lately seen this quoted as having been said by ,diderot4 ,it is easy to say we feel the mediocrity when we have heard a good many people say that the work is mediocre1 but1 unless in matters about which he has been long conversant1 no man can easily form an independent judgment as to whether or not a work is mediocre4 ,i know that in the matter of books1 painting and music ,i constantly find myself unable to form a settled opinion till ,i have heard what many men of varied tastes have to say1 and have also made myself acquainted with details about a man's antecedents and ways of life which are generally held to be irrelevant4 ,often1 of course1 this is unnecessary2 a man's character1 if he has left much work behind him1 or if he is not coming before us for the first time1 is generally easily discovered without extraneous aid4 ,we want no one to give us any clues to the nature of such men as ,giovanni ,bellini1 or ,de ,hooghe4 ,hogarth's character is written upon his work so plainly that he who runs may read it1 so is ,handel's upon his1 so is ,purcell's1 so is ,corelli's1 so1 indeed1 are the characters of most men2 but often where only little work has been left1 or where a work is by a new hand1 it is exceedingly difficult 8sentir la mdiocrit0 and1 it might be added1 8ou mme sentir du tout40 ,how many years1 ,i wonder1 was it before ,i learned to dislike ,thackeray and ,tennyson as cordially as ,i now do8 ,for how many years did ,i not almost worship them8 ,bunyan and ,others ,i have been reading ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress again--the third part and all--and wish that some one would tell one what to think about it4 ,the ,english is racy1 vigorous and often very beautiful2 but the language of any book is nothing except in so far as it reveals the writer4 ,the words in which a man clothes his thoughts are like all other clothes--the cut raises presumptions about his thoughts1 and these generally turn out to be just1 but the words are no more the thoughts than a man's coat is himself4 ,i am not sure1 however1 that in ,bunyan's case the dress in which he has clothed his ideas does not reveal him more justly than the ideas do4 ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress consists mainly of a series of infamous libels upon life and things2 it is a blasphemy against certain fundamental ideas of right and wrong which our consciences most instinctively approve2 its notion of heaven is hardly higher than a transformation scene at ,drury ,lane2 it is essentially infidel4 8,hold out to me the chance of a golden crown and harp with freedom from all further worries1 give me angels to flatter me and fetch and carry for me1 and ,i shall think the game worth playing1 notwithstanding the great and horrible risk of failure2 but no crown1 no cross for me4 ,pay me well and ,i will wait for payment1 but if ,i have to give credit ,i shall expect to be paid better in the end40 ,there is no conception of the faith that a man should do his duty cheerfully with all his might though1 as far as he can see1 he will never be paid directly or indirectly either here or hereafter4 ,still less is there any conception that unless a man has this faith he is not worth thinking about4 ,there is no sense that as we have received freely so we should give freely and be only too thankful that we have anything to give at all4 ,furthermore there does not appear to be even the remotest conception that this honourable1 comfortable and sustaining faith is1 like all other high faiths1 to be brushed aside very peremptorily at the bidding of common-sense4 ,what a pity it is that ,christian never met ,mr4 ,common-,sense with his daughter1 ,good-,humour1 and her affianced husband1 ,mr4 ,hate-,cant2 but if he ever saw them in the distance he steered clear of them1 probably as feeling that they would be more dangerous than ,giant ,despair1 ,vanity ,fair and ,apollyon all together--for they would have stuck to him if he had let them get in with him4 ,among other things they would have told him that1 if there was any truth in his opinions1 neither man nor woman ought to become a father or mother at all1 inasmuch as their doing so would probably entail eternity of torture on the wretched creature whom they were launching into the world4 ,life in this world is risk enough to inflict on another person who has not been consulted in the matter1 but death will give quittance in full4 ,to weaken our faith in this sure and certain hope of peace eternal 7except so far as we have so lived as to win life in others after we are gone7 would be a cruel thing1 even though the evidence against it were overwhelming1 but to rob us of it on no evidence worth a moment's consideration and1 apparently1 from no other motive than the pecuniary advantage of the robbers themselves is infamy4 ,for the ,churches are but institutions for the saving of men's souls from hell4 ,this is true enough4 ,nevertheless it is untrue that in practice any ,christian minister1 knowing what he preaches to be both very false and very cruel1 yet insists on it because it is to the advantage of his own order4 ,in a way the preachers believe what they preach1 but it is as men who have taken a bad #aj note and refuse to look at the evidence that makes for its badness1 though1 if the note were not theirs1 they would see at a glance that it was not a good one4 ,for the man in the street it is enough that what the priests teach in respect of a future state is palpably both cruel and absurd while1 at the same time1 they make their living by teaching it and thus prey upon other men's fears of the unknown4 ,if the ,churches do not wish to be misunderstood they should not allow themselves to remain in such an equivocal position4 ,but let this pass4 ,bunyan1 we may be sure1 took all that he preached in its most literal interpretation2 he could never have made his book so interesting had he not done so4 ,the interest of it depends almost entirely on the unquestionable good faith of the writer and the strength of the impulse that compelled him to speak that which was within him4 ,he was not writing a book which he might sell1 he was speaking what was borne in upon him from heaven4 ,the message he uttered was1 to my thinking1 both low and false1 but it was truth of truths to ,bunyan4 ,no4 ,this will not do4 ,the ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul were truth of truths to ,paul1 but they do not attract us to the man who wrote them1 and1 except here and there1 they are very uninteresting4 ,mere strength of conviction on a writer's part is not enough to make his work take permanent rank4 ,yet ,i know that ,i could read the whole of ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress 7except occasional episodical sermons7 without being at all bored by it1 whereas1 having spent a penny upon ,mr4 ,stead's abridgement of ,joseph ,andrews1 ,i had to give it up as putting me out of all patience4 ,i then spent another penny on an abridgement of ,gulliver's ,travels1 and was enchanted by it4 ,what is it that makes one book so readable and another so unreadable8 ,swift1 from all ,i can make out1 was a far more human and genuine person than he is generally represented1 but ,i do not think ,i should have liked him1 whereas ,fielding1 ,i am sure1 must have been delightful4 ,why do the faults of his work overweigh its many great excellences1 while the less great excellences of the ,voyage to ,lilliput outweigh its more serious defects8 ,i suppose it is the prolixity of ,fielding that fatigues me4 ,swift is terse1 he gets through what he has to say on any matter as quickly as he can and takes the reader on to the next1 whereas ,fielding is not only long1 but his length is made still longer by the disconnectedness of the episodes that appear to have been padded into the books--episodes that do not help one forward1 and are generally so exaggerated1 and often so full of horse-play as to put one out of conceit with the parts that are really excellent4 ,whatever else ,bunyan is he is never long2 he takes you quickly on from incident to incident and1 however little his incidents may appeal to us1 we feel that he is never giving us one that is not bona fide so far as he is concerned4 ,his episodes and incidents are introduced not because he wants to make his book longer but because he cannot be satisfied without these particular ones1 even though he may feel that his book is getting longer than he likes4 4 4 4 ,and here ,i must break away from this problem1 leaving it unsolved4 #ahig4 ,bunyan and the ,odyssey ,anything worse than ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress in the matter of defiance of literary canons can hardly be conceived4 ,the allegory halts continually2 it professes to be spiritual1 but nothing can be more carnal than the golden splendour of the eternal city2 the view of life and the world generally is flat blasphemy against the order of things with which we are surrounded4 ,yet1 like the ,odyssey1 which flatly defies sense and criticism 7no1 it doesn't2 still1 it defies them a good deal71 no one can doubt that it must rank among the very greatest books that have ever been written4 ,how ,odyssean it is in its sincerity and downrightness1 as well as in the marvellous beauty of its language1 its freedom from all taint of the schools and1 not least1 in complete victory of genuine internal zeal over a scheme initially so faulty as to appear hopeless4 ,i read that part where ,christian passes the lions which he thought were free but which were really chained and it occurred to me that all lions are chained until they actually eat us and that1 the moment they do this1 they chain themselves up again automatically1 as far as we are concerned4 ,if one dissects this passage it fares as many a passage in the ,odyssey does when we dissect it4 ,christian did not1 after all1 venture to pass the lions till he was assured that they were chained4 ,and really it is more excusable to refuse point-blank to pass a couple of lions till one knows whether they are chained or not--and the poor wicked people seem to have done nothing more than this1--than it would be to pass them4 ,besides1 by being told1 ,christian fights1 as it were1 with loaded dice4 ,poetry ,the greatest poets never write poetry4 ,the ,homers and ,shakespeares are not the greatest--they are only the greatest that we can know4 ,and so with ,handel among musicians4 ,for the highest poetry1 whether in music or literature1 is ineffable--it must be felt from one person to another1 it cannot be articulated4 ,verse ,versifying is the lowest form of poetry2 and the last thing a great poet will do in these days is to write verses4 ,i have been trying to read ,venus and ,adonis and the ,rape of ,lucrece but cannot get on with them4 ,they teem with fine things1 but they are got-up fine things4 ,i do not know whether this is quite what ,i mean but1 come what may1 ,i find the poems bore me4 ,were ,i a schoolmaster ,i should think ,i was setting a boy a very severe punishment if ,i told him to read ,venus and ,adonis through in three sittings4 ,if1 then1 the magic of ,shakespeare's name1 let alone the great beauty of occasional passages1 cannot reconcile us 7for ,i find most people of the same mind7 to verse1 and especially rhymed verse as a medium of sustained expression1 what chance has any one else8 ,it seems to me that a sonnet is the utmost length to which a rhymed poem should extend4 ,verse1 ,poetry and ,prose ,the preface to ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress is verse1 but it is not poetry4 ,the body of the work is poetry1 but it is not verse4 ,ancient ,work ,if a person would understand either the ,odyssey or any other ancient work1 he must never look at the dead without seeing the living in them1 nor at the living without thinking of the dead4 ,we are too fond of seeing the ancients as one thing and the moderns as another4 ,nausicaa and ,myself ,i am elderly1 grey-bearded and1 according to my clerk1 ,alfred1 disgustingly fat2 ,i wear spectacles and get more and more bronchitic as ,i grow older4 ,still no young prince in a fairy story ever found an invisible princess more effectually hidden behind a hedge of dullness or more fast asleep than ,nausicaa was when ,i woke her and hailed her as ,authoress of the ,odyssey4 ,and there was no difficulty about it either--all one had to do was to go up to the front door and ring the bell4 ,telemachus and ,nicholas ,nickleby ,the virtuous young man defending a virtuous mother against a number of powerful enemies is one of the ignes fatui of literature4 ,the scheme ought to be very interesting1 and often is so1 but it always fails as regards the hero who1 from ,telemachus to ,nicholas ,nickleby1 is always too much of the good young man to please4 ,gadshill and ,trapani ,while getting our lunch one ,sunday at the east end of the long room in the ,sir ,john ,falstaff ,inn1 ,gadshill1 we overheard some waterside-looking dwellers in the neighbourhood talking among themselves4 ,i wrote down the following3-- ,bill3 ,oh1 yes4 ,i've got a mate that works in my shop2 he's chucked the ,dining ,room because they give him too much to eat4 ,he found another place where they gave him four pennyworth of meat and two vegetables and it was quite as much as he could put up with4 ,george3 ,you can't kid me1 ,bill1 that they give you too much to eat1 but ,i'll believe it to oblige you1 ,bill4 ,shall ,i see you to-night8 ,bill3 ,no1 ,i must go to church4 ,george3 ,well1 so must ,i2 ,i've got to go4 ,so at ,trapani1 ,i heard two small boys one night on the quay 7,i am sure ,i have written this down somewhere1 but it is less trouble to write it again than to hunt for it7 singing with all their might1 with their arms round one another's necks4 ,i should say they were about ten years old1 not more4 ,i asked ,ignazio ,giacalone3 8,what are they singing80 ,he replied that it was a favourite song among the popolino of ,trapani about a girl who did not want to be seen going about with a man4 8,the people in this place10 says the song1 8are very ill-natured1 and if they see you and me together1 they will talk10 c4 ,i do not say that there was any descent here from ,nausicaa's speech to ,ulysses1 but ,i felt as though that speech was still in the air4 ,od4 ,,vi4 #bgc4 ,i reckon ,gadshill and ,trapani as perhaps the two most classic grounds that ,i frequent familiarly1 and at each ,i have seemed to hear echoes of the scenes that have made them famous4 ,not that what ,i heard at ,gadshill is like any particular passage in ,shakespeare4 ,waiting to be ,hired ,at ,castelvetrano 7about thirty miles from ,trapani7 ,i had to start the next morning at #d a4m4 to see the ruins of ,selinunte1 and slept lightly with my window open4 ,about two o'clock ,i began to hear a buzz of conversation in the piazza outside and it kept me awake1 so ,i got up to shut the window and see what it was4 ,i found it came from a long knot of men standing about1 two deep1 but not strictly marshalled4 ,when ,i got up at half-past three1 it was still dark and the men were still there1 though perhaps not so many4 ,i enquired and found they were standing to be hired for the day1 any one wanting labourers would come there1 engage as many as he wanted and go off with them1 others would come up1 and so on till about four o'clock1 after which no one would hire1 the day being regarded as short in weight after that hour4 ,being so collected the men gossip over their own and other people's affairs--wonder who was that fine-looking stranger going about yesterday with ,nausicaa1 and so on4 ,od4 ,,vi4 #bgc4 ,this1 in fact1 is their club and the place where the public opinion of the district is formed4 ,ilium and ,padua ,the story of the ,trojan horse is more nearly within possibility than we should readily suppose4 ,in #ahdh1 during the rebellion of the ,north ,italians against the ,austrians1 eight or nine young men1 for whom the authorities were hunting1 hid themselves inside ,donatello's wooden horse in the ,salone at ,padua and lay there for five days1 being fed through the trap door on the back of the horse with the connivance of the custode of the ,salone4 ,no doubt they were let out for a time at night4 ,when pursuit had become less hot1 their friends smuggled them away4 ,one of those who had been shut up was still living in #ahih and1 on the occasion of the jubilee festivities1 was carried round the town in triumph4 ,eumaeus and ,lord ,burleigh ,the inference which ,arthur ,platt 7,journal of ,philology1 ,vol4 #bd1 ,no4 #dg7 wishes to draw from ,eumaeus being told to bring ,ulysses' bow 7,od4 ,,xxi4 #bcd7 suggests to met to me the difference which some people in future ages may wish to draw between the character of ,lord ,burleigh's steps in ,tennyson's poem1 according as he was walking up or pacing down4 ,wherefrom also the critic will argue that the scene of ,lord ,burleigh's weeping must have been on an inclined plane4 ,weeping1 weeping late and early1 ,walking up and pacing down1 ,deeply mourned the ,lord of ,burleigh1 ,burleigh-house by ,stamford-town4 ,my ,reviewers' ,sense of ,need ,my reviewers felt no sense of need to understand me--if they had they would have developed the mental organism which would have enabled them to do so4 ,when the time comes that they want to do so they will throw out a little mental pseudopodium without much difficulty4 ,they threw it out when they wanted to misunderstand me--with a good deal of the pseudo in it1 too4 ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey ,the amount of pains which my reviewers have taken to understand this book is not so great as to encourage the belief that they would understand the ,odyssey1 however much they studied it4 ,again1 the people who could read the ,odyssey without coming to much the same conclusions as mine are not likely to admit that they ought to have done so4 ,if a man tells me that a house in which ,i have long lived is inconvenient1 not to say unwholesome1 and that ,i have been very stupid in not finding this out for myself1 ,i should be apt in the first instance to tell him that he knew nothing about it1 and that ,i was quite comfortable2 by and by1 ,i should begin to be aware that ,i was not so comfortable as ,i thought ,i was1 and in the end ,i should probably make the suggested alterations in my house if1 on reflection1 ,i found them sensibly conceived4 ,but ,i should kick hard at first4 ,homer and his ,commentators ,homeric commentators have been blind so long that nothing will do for them but ,homer must be blind too4 ,they have transferred their own blindness to the poet4 ,the ,iliad ,in the ,iliad1 civilisation bursts upon us as a strong stream out of a rock4 ,we know that the water has gathered from many a distant vein underground1 but we do not see these4 ,or it is like the drawing up the curtain on the opening of a play--the scene is then first revealed4 ,glacial ,periods of ,folly ,the moraines left by secular glacial periods of folly stretch out over many a plain of our civilisation4 ,so in the ,odyssey1 especially in the second twelve books1 whenever any one eats meat it is called 8sacrificing0 it1 as though we were descended from a race that did not eat meat4 ,then it was said that meat might be eaten if one did not eat the life4 ,what was the life8 ,clearly the blood1 for when you stick a pig it lives till the blood is gone4 ,you must sacrifice the blood1 therefore1 to the gods1 but so long as you abstain from things strangled and from blood1 and so long as you call it sacrificing1 you may eat as much meat as you please4 ,what a mountain of lies--what a huge geological formation of falsehood1 with displacement of all kinds1 and strata twisted every conceivable way1 must have accreted before the ,odyssey was possible6 ,translations from ,verse into ,prose ,whenever this is attempted1 great licence must be allowed to the translator in getting rid of all those poetical common forms which are foreign to the genius of prose4 ,if the work is to be translated into prose1 let it be into such prose as we write and speak among ourselves4 ,a volume of poetical prose1 i4e4 affected prose1 had better be in verse outright at once4 ,poetical prose is never tolerable for more than a very short bit at a time4 ,and it may be questioned whether poetry itself is not better kept short in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred4 ,translating the ,odyssey ,if you wish to preserve the spirit of a dead author1 you must not skin him1 stuff him1 and set him up in a case4 ,you must eat him1 digest him and let him live in you1 with such life as you have1 for better or worse4 ,the difference between the ,andrew ,lang manner of translating the ,odyssey and mine is that between making a mummy and a baby4 ,he tries to preserve a corpse 7for the ,odyssey is a corpse to all who need ,lang's translation71 whereas ,i try to originate a new life and one that is instinct 7as far as ,i can effect this7 with the spirit though not the form of the original4 ,they say no woman could possibly have written the ,odyssey4 ,to me1 on the other hand1 it seems even less possible that a man could have done so4 ,as for its being by a practised and elderly writer1 nothing but youth and inexperience could produce anything so nave and so lovely4 ,that is where the work will suffer by my translation4 ,i am male1 practised and elderly1 and the trail of sex1 age and experience is certain to be over my translation4 ,if the poem is ever to be well translated1 it must be by some high-spirited ,english girl who has been brought up at ,athens and who1 therefore1 has not been jaded by academic study of the language4 ,a translation is at best a dislocation1 a translation from verse to prose is a double dislocation and corresponding further dislocations are necessary if an effect of deformity is to be avoided4 ,the people who1 when they read 8,athene0 translated by 8,minerva10 cannot bear in mind that every ,athene varies more or less with1 and takes colour from1 the country and temperament of the writer who is being translated1 will not be greatly helped by translating 8,athene0 and not 8,minerva40 ,besides many readers would pronounce the word as a dissyllable or an anapst4 ,the ,odyssey and a ,tomb at ,carcassonne ,there is a tomb at some place in ,france1 ,i think at ,carcassonne1 on which there is some sculpture representing the friends and relations of the deceased in paroxysms of grief with their cheeks all cracked1 and crying like ,gaudenzio's angels on the ,sacro ,monte at ,varallo-,sesia4 ,round the corner1 however1 just out of sight till one searches1 there is a man holding both his sides and splitting with laughter4 ,in some parts of the ,odyssey1 especially about ,ulysses and ,penelope1 ,i fancy that laughing man as being round the corner4 ,oct4 #ahia4 ,getting it ,wrong ,zeffirino ,carestia1 a sculptor1 told me we had a great sculptor in ,england named ,simpson4 ,i demurred1 and asked about his work4 ,it seemed he had made a monument to ,nelson in ,westminster ,abbey4 ,of course ,i saw he meant ,stevens1 who had made a monument to ,wellington in ,st4 ,paul's4 ,i cross-questioned him and found ,i was right4 ,suppose that in some ancient writer ,i had come upon a similar error about which ,i felt no less certain than ,i did here1 ought ,i to be debarred from my conclusion merely by the accident that ,i have not the wretched muddler at my elbow and cannot ask him personally8 ,people are always getting things wrong4 ,it is the critic's business to know how and when to believe on insufficient evidence and to know how far to go in the matter of setting people right without going too far2 the question of what is too far and what is sufficient evidence can only be settled by the higgling and haggling of the literary market4 ,so ,i justify my emendation of the 8grotta del toro0 at ,trapani4 ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey1 ,chap4 ,,viii4 8,il toro macigna un tesoro di oro40 ,the bull is grinding a treasure of gold in the grotto in which 7for other reasons7 ,i am convinced ,ulysses hid the gifts the ,phacians had given him4 ,and so the grotto is called 8,la grotta del toro0 ,the grotto of the bull4 ,i make no doubt it was originally called 8,la grotta del tesoro0 ,the grotto of the treasure1 but children got it wrong1 and corrupted 8tesoro0 into 8toro02 then1 it being known that the 8tesoro0 was in it somehow1 the 8toro0 was made to grind the 8tesoro40 ,,xiii ,unprofessional ,sermons ,righteousness ,,according to ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold1 as we find the highest traditions of grace1 beauty and the heroic virtues among the ,greeks and ,romans1 so we derive our highest ideal of righteousness from ,jewish sources4 ,righteousness was to the ,jew what strength and beauty were to the ,greek or fortitude to the ,roman4 ,this sounds well1 but can we think that the ,jews taken as a nation were really more righteous than the ,greeks and ,romans8 ,could they indeed be so if they were less strong1 graceful and enduring8 ,in some respects they may have been--every nation has its strong points--but surely there has been a nearly unanimous verdict for many generations that the typical ,greek or ,roman is a higher1 nobler person than the typical ,jew--and this referring not to the modern ,jew1 who may perhaps he held to have been injured by centuries of oppression1 but to the ,hebrew of the time of the old prophets and of the most prosperous eras in the history of the nation4 ,if three men could be set before us as the most perfect ,greek1 ,roman and ,jew respectively1 and if we could choose which we would have our only son most resemble1 is it not likely we should find ourselves preferring the ,greek or ,roman to the ,jew8 ,and does not this involve that we hold the two former to be the more righteous in a broad sense of the word8 ,i dare not say that we owe no benefits to the ,jewish nation1 ,i do not feel sure whether we do or do not1 but ,i can see no good thing that ,i can point to as a notoriously ,hebrew contribution to our moral and intellectual well-being as ,i can point to our law and say that it is ,roman1 or to our fine arts and say that they are based on what the ,greeks and ,italians taught us4 ,on the contrary1 if asked what feature of post-,christian life we had derived most distinctly from ,hebrew sources ,i should say at once 8intolerance0--the desire to dogmatise about matters whereon the ,greek and ,roman held certainty to be at once unimportant and unattainable4 ,this1 with all its train of bloodshed and family disunion1 is chargeable to the ,jewish rather than to any other account4 ,there is yet another vice which occurs readily to any one who reckons up the characteristics which we derive mainly from the ,jews2 it is one that we call1 after a ,jewish sect1 8,pharisaism40 ,i do not mean to say that no ,greek or ,roman was ever a sanctimonious hypocrite1 still1 sanctimoniousness does not readily enter into our notions of ,greeks and ,romans and it does so enter into our notions of the old ,hebrews4 ,of course1 we are all of us sanctimonious sometimes2 ,horace himself is so when he talks about aurum irrepertum et sic melius situm1 and as for ,virgil he was a prig1 pure and simple2 still1 on the whole1 sanctimoniousness was not a ,greek and ,roman vice and it was a ,hebrew one4 ,true1 they stoned their prophets freely2 but these are not the ,hebrews to whom ,mr4 ,arnold is referring1 they are the ones whom it is the custom to leave out of sight and out of mind as far as possible1 so that they should hardly count as ,hebrews at all1 and none of our characteristics should be ascribed to them4 ,taking their literature ,i cannot see that it deserves the praises that have been lavished upon it4 ,the ,song of ,solomon and the book of ,esther are the most interesting in the ,old ,testament1 but these are the very ones that make the smallest pretensions to holiness1 and even these are neither of them of very transcendent merit4 ,they would stand no chance of being accepted by ,messrs4 ,cassell and ,co4 or by any biblical publisher of the present day4 ,chatto and ,windus might take the ,song of ,solomon1 but1 with this exception1 ,i doubt if there is a publisher in ,london who would give a guinea for the pair4 ,ecclesiastes contains some fine things but is strongly tinged with pessimism1 cynicism and affectation4 ,some of the ,proverbs are good1 but not many of them are in common use4 ,job contains some fine passages1 and so do some of the ,psalms2 but the ,psalms generally are poor and1 for the most part1 querulous1 spiteful and introspective into the bargain4 ,mudie would not take thirteen copies of the lot if they were to appear now for the first time--unless indeed their royal authorship were to arouse an adventitious interest in them1 or unless the author were a rich man who played his cards judiciously with the reviewers4 ,as for the prophets--we know what appears to have been the opinion formed concerning them by those who should have been best acquainted with them2 ,i am no judge as to the merits of the controversy between them and their fellow-countrymen1 but ,i have read their works and am of opinion that they will not hold their own against such masterpieces of modern literature as1 we will say1 ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress1 ,robinson ,crusoe1 ,gulliver's ,travels or ,tom ,jones4 8,whether there be prophecies10 exclaims the ,apostle1 8they shall fail40 ,on the whole ,i should say that ,isaiah and ,jeremiah must be held to have failed4 ,i would join issue with ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold on yet another point4 ,i understand him to imply that righteousness should be a man's highest aim in life4 ,i do not like setting up righteousness1 nor yet anything else1 as the highest aim in life2 a man should have any number of little aims about which he should be conscious and for which he should have names1 but he should have neither name for1 nor consciousness concerning the main aim of his life4 ,whatever we do we must try and do it rightly--this is obvious--but righteousness implies something much more than this3 it conveys to our minds not only the desire to get whatever we have taken in hand as nearly right as possible1 but also the general reference of our lives to the supposed will of an unseen but supreme power4 ,granted that there is such a power1 and granted that we should obey its will1 we are the more likely to do this the less we concern ourselves about the matter and the more we confine our attention to the things immediately round about us which seem1 so to speak1 entrusted to us as the natural and legitimate sphere of our activity4 ,i believe a man will get the most useful information on these matters from modern ,european sources2 next to these he will get most from ,athens and ancient ,rome4 ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold notwithstanding1 ,i do not think he will get anything from ,jerusalem which he will not find better and more easily elsewhere4 #ahhc4 ,wisdom ,but where shall wisdom be found8 7,job xxviii4 #ab74 ,if the writer of these words meant exactly what he said1 he had so little wisdom that he might well seek more4 ,he should have known that wisdom spends most of her time crying in the streets and public-houses1 and he should have gone thither to look for her4 ,it is written3 8,wisdom crieth without2 she uttereth her voice in the streets3 8,she crieth in the chief place of concourse1 in the openings of the gates3 in the city she uttereth her words0 7,prov4 i4 #bj1 #ba47 ,if however he meant rather 8,where shall wisdom be regarded80 this1 again1 is not a very sensible question4 ,people have had wisdom before them for some time1 and they may be presumed to be the best judges of their own affairs1 yet they do not generally show much regard for wisdom4 ,we may conclude1 therefore1 that they have found her less profitable than by her own estimate she would appear to be4 ,this indeed is what one of the wisest men who ever lived--the author of the ,book of ,ecclesiastes--definitely concludes to be the case1 when he tells his readers that they had better not overdo either their virtue or their wisdom4 ,they must not1 on the other hand1 overdo their wickedness nor1 presumably1 their ignorance1 still the writer evidently thinks that error is safer on the side of too little than of too much4 #bjc ,reflection will show that this must always have been true1 and must always remain so1 for this is the side on which error is both least disastrous and offers most place for repentance4 ,he who finds himself inconvenienced by knowing too little can go to the ,british ,museum1 or to the ,working ,men's ,college1 and learn more2 but when a thing is once well learnt it is even harder to unlearn it than it was to learn it4 ,would it be possible to unlearn the art of speech or the arts of reading and writing even if we wished to do so8 ,wisdom and knowledge are1 like a bad reputation1 more easily won than lost2 we got on fairly well without knowing that the earth went round the sun2 we thought the sun went round the earth until we found it made us uncomfortable to think so any longer1 then we altered our opinion2 it was not very easy to alter it1 but it was easier than it would be to alter it back again4 ,vestigia nulla retrorsum2 the earth itself does not pursue its course more steadily than mind does when it has once committed itself1 and if we could see the movements of the stars in slow time we should probably find that there was much more throb and tremor in detail than we can take note of4 ,how1 ,i wonder1 will it be if in our pursuit of knowledge we stumble upon some awkward fact as disturbing for the human race as an enquiry into the state of his own finances may sometimes prove to the individual8 ,the pursuit of knowledge can never be anything but a leap in the dark1 and a leap in the dark is a very uncomfortable thing4 ,i have sometimes thought that if the human race ever loses its ascendancy it will not be through plague1 famine or cataclysm1 but by getting to know some little microbe1 as it were1 of knowledge which shall get into its system and breed there till it makes an end of us4 #bjd ,it is well1 therefore1 that there should be a substratum of mankind who cannot by any inducement be persuaded to know anything whatever at all1 and who are resolutely determined to know nothing among us but what the parson tells them1 and not to be too sure even about that4 ,whence then cometh wisdom and where is the place of understanding8 ,how does ,job solve his problem8 8,behold the fear of the ,lord1 that is wisdom3 and to depart from evil is understanding40 ,the answer is all very well as far as it goes1 but it only amounts to saying that wisdom is wisdom4 ,we know no better what the fear of the ,lord is than what wisdom is1 and we often do not depart from evil simply because we do not know that what we are cleaving to is evil4 ,loving and ,hating ,i have often said that there is no true love short of eating and consequent assimilation2 the embryonic processes are but a long course of eating and assimilation--the sperm and germ cells1 or the two elements that go to form the new animal1 whatever they should be called1 eat one another up1 and then the mother assimilates them1 more or less1 through mutual inter-feeding and inter-breeding between her and them4 ,but the curious point is that the more profound our love is the less we are conscious of it as love4 ,true1 a nurse tells her child that she would like to eat it1 but this is only an expression that shows an instinctive recognition of the fact that eating is a mode of1 or rather the acme of1 love--no nurse loves her child half well enough to want really to eat it2 put to such proof as this the love of which she is so profoundly1 as she imagines1 sentient proves to be but skin deep4 ,so with our horses and dogs3 we think we dote upon them1 but we do not really love them4 ,what1 on the other hand1 can awaken less consciousness of warm affection than an oyster8 ,who would press an oyster to his heart1 or pat it and want to kiss it8 ,yet nothing short of its complete absorption into our own being can in the least satisfy us4 ,no merely superficial temporary contact of exterior form to exterior form will serve us4 ,the embrace must be consummate1 not achieved by a mocking environment of draped and muffled arms that leaves no lasting trace on organisation or consciousness1 but by an enfolding within the bare and warm bosom of an open mouth--a grinding out of all differences of opinion by the sweet persuasion of the jaws1 and the eloquence of a tongue that now convinces all the more powerfully because it is inarticulate and deals but with the one universal language of agglutination4 ,then we become made one with what we love--not heart to heart1 but protoplasm to protoplasm1 and this is far more to the purpose4 ,the proof of love1 then1 like that of any other pleasant pudding1 is in the eating1 and tested by this proof we see that consciousness of love1 like all other consciousness vanishes on becoming intense4 ,while we are yet fully aware of it1 we do not love as well as we think we do4 ,when we really mean business and are hungry with affection1 we do not know that we are in love1 but simply go into the love-shop--for so any eating-house should be more fitly called--ask the price1 pay our money down1 and love till we can either love or pay no longer4 ,and so with hate4 ,when we really hate a thing it makes us sick1 and we use this expression to symbolise the utmost hatred of which our nature is capable2 but when we know we hate1 our hatred is in reality mild and inoffensive4 ,i1 for example1 think ,i hate all those people whose photographs ,i see in the shop windows1 but ,i am so conscious of this that ,i am convinced1 in reality1 nothing would please me better than to be in the shop windows too4 ,so when ,i see the universities conferring degrees on any one1 or the learned societies moulting the yearly medals as peacocks moult their tails1 ,i am so conscious of disapproval as to feel sure ,i should like a degree or a medal too if they would only give me one1 and hence ,i conclude that my disapproval is grounded in nothing more serious than a superficial1 transient jealousy4 ,the ,roman ,empire ,nothing will ever die so long as it knows what to do under the circumstances1 in other words so long as it knows its business4 ,the ,roman ,empire must have died of inexperience of some kind1 ,i should think most likely it was puzzled to death by the ,christian religion4 ,but the question is not so much how the ,roman ,empire or any other great thing came to an end--everything must come to an end some time1 it is only scientists who wonder that a state should die--the interesting question is how did the ,romans become so great1 under what circumstances were they born and bred8 ,we should watch childhood and schooldays rather than old age and death-beds4 ,as ,i sit writing on the top of a wild-beast pen of the amphitheatre of ,aosta ,i may note1 for one thing1 that the ,romans were not squeamish1 they had no ,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,animals4 ,again1 their ladies did not write in the newspapers4 ,fancy ,miss ,cato reviewing ,horace6 ,they had no ,frances ,power ,cobbes1 no 4 4 4 s1 no 4 4 4 s2 yet they seem to have got along quite nicely without these powerful moral engines4 ,the comeliest and most enjoyable races that we know of were the ancient ,greeks1 the ,italians and the ,south ,sea ,islanders1 and they have none of them been purists4 ,italians and ,englishmen ,italians1 and perhaps ,frenchmen1 consider first whether they like or want to do a thing and then whether1 on the whole1 it will do them any harm4 ,englishmen1 and perhaps ,germans1 consider first whether they ought to like a thing and often never reach the questions whether they do like it and whether it will hurt4 ,there is much to be said for both systems1 but ,i suppose it is best to combine them as far as possible4 ,on ,knowing what ,gives us ,pleasure i ,one can bring no greater reproach against a man than to say that he does not set sufficient value upon pleasure1 and there is no greater sign of a fool than the thinking that he can tell at once and easily what it is that pleases him4 ,to know this is not easy1 and how to extend our knowledge of it is the highest and the most neglected of all arts and branches of education4 ,indeed1 if we could solve the difficulty of knowing what gives us pleasure1 if we could find its springs1 its inception and earliest modus operandi1 we should have discovered the secret of life and development1 for the same difficulty has attended the development of every sense from touch onwards1 and no new sense was ever developed without pains4 ,a man had better stick to known and proved pleasures1 but1 if he will venture in quest of new ones1 he should not do so with a light heart4 ,one reason why we find it so hard to know our own likings is because we are so little accustomed to try2 we have our likings found for us in respect of by far the greater number of the matters that concern us2 thus we have grown all our limbs on the strength of the likings of our ancestors and adopt these without question4 ,another reason is that1 except in mere matters of eating and drinking1 people do not realise the importance of finding out what it is that gives them pleasure if1 that is to say1 they would make themselves as comfortable here as they reasonably can4 ,very few1 however1 seem to care greatly whether they are comfortable or no4 ,there are some men so ignorant and careless of what gives them pleasure that they cannot be said ever to have been really born as living beings at all4 ,they present some of the phenomena of having been born--they reproduce1 in fact1 so many of the ideas which we associate with having been born that it is hard not to think of them as living beings--but in spite of all appearances the central idea is wanting4 ,at least one half of the misery which meets us daily might be removed or1 at any rate1 greatly alleviated1 if those who suffer by it would think it worth their while to be at any pains to get rid of it4 ,that they do not so think is proof that they neither know1 nor care to know1 more than in a very languid way1 what it is that will relieve them most effectually or1 in other words1 that the shoe does not really pinch them so hard as we think it does4 ,for when it really pinches1 as when a man is being flogged1 he will seek relief by any means in his power4 ,so my great namesake said1 8,surely the pleasure is as great ,of being cheated as to cheat02 and so1 again1 ,i remember to have seen a poem many years ago in ,punch according to which a certain young lady1 being discontented at home1 went out into the world in quest to 8,some burden make or burden bear1 ,but which she did not greatly care--,oh ,miseree60 ,so long as there was discomfort somewhere it was all right4 ,to those1 however1 who are desirous of knowing what gives them pleasure but do not quite know how to set about it ,i have no better advice to give than that they must take the same pains about acquiring this difficult art as about any other1 and must acquire it in the same way--that is by attending to one thing at a time and not being in too great a hurry4 ,proficiency is not to be attained here1 any more than elsewhere1 by short cuts or by getting other people to do work that no other than oneself can do4 ,above all things it is necessary here1 as in all other branches of study1 not to think we know a thing before we do know it--to make sure of our ground and be quite certain that we really do like a thing before we say we do4 ,when you cannot decide whether you like a thing or not1 nothing is easier than to say so and to hang it up among the uncertainties4 ,or when you know you do not know and are in such doubt as to see no chance of deciding1 then you may take one side or the other provisionally and throw yourself into it4 ,this will sometimes make you uncomfortable1 and you will feel you have taken the wrong side and thus learn that the other was the right one4 ,sometimes you will feel you have done right4 ,any way ere long you will know more about it4 ,but there must have been a secret treaty with yourself to the effect that the decision was provisional only4 ,for1 after all1 the most important first principle in this matter is the not lightly thinking you know what you like till you have made sure of your ground4 ,i was nearly forty before ,i felt how stupid it was to pretend to know things that ,i did not know and ,i still often catch myself doing so4 ,not one of my school-masters taught me this1 but altogether otherwise4 ii ,i should like to like ,schumann's music better than ,i do2 ,i dare say ,i could make myself like it better if ,i tried2 but ,i do not like having to try to make myself like things2 ,i like things that make me like them at once and no trying at all4 iii ,to know whether you are enjoying a piece of music or not you must see whether you find yourself looking at the advertisements of ,pear's soap at the end of the programme4 ,de ,minimis non ,curat ,lex i ,yes1 but what is a minimum8 ,sometimes a maximum is a minimum1 and sometimes the other way about4 ,if you know you know1 and if you don't you don't4 ii ,yes1 but what is a minimum8 ,so increased material weight involves increased moral weight1 but where does there begin to be any weight at all8 ,there is a miracle somewhere4 ,at the point where two very large nothings have united to form a very little something4 iii ,there is no such complete assimilation as assimilation of rhythm4 ,in fact it is in assimilation of rhythm that what we see as assimilation consists4 ,when two liquid bodies come together with nearly the same rhythms1 as1 say1 two tumblers of water1 differing but very slightly1 the two assimilate rapidly--becoming homogeneous throughout4 ,so with wine and water which assimilate1 or at any rate form a new homogeneous substance1 very rapidly4 ,not so with oil and water4 ,still1 ,i should like to know whether it would not be possible to have so much water and so little oil that the water would in time absorb the oil4 ,i have not thought about it1 but it seems as though the maxim de minimis non curat lex--the fact that a wrong1 a contradiction in terms1 a violation of all our ordinary canons does not matter and should be brushed aside--it seems as though this maxim went very low down in the scale of nature1 as though it were the one principle rendering combination 7integration7 and1 ,i suppose1 dissolution 7disintegration7 also1 possible4 ,for combination of any kind involves contradiction in terms2 it involves a self-stultification on the part of one or more things1 more or less complete in both of them4 ,for one or both cease to be1 and to cease to be is to contradict all one's fundamental axioms or terms4 ,and this is always going on in the mental world as much as in the material2 everything is always changing and stultifying itself more or less completely4 ,there is no permanence of identity so absolute1 either in the physical world1 or in our conception of the word 8identity10 that it is not crossed with the notion of perpetual change which1 pro tanto1 destroys identity4 ,perfect1 absolute identity is like perfect1 absolute anything--as near an approach to nothing1 or nonsense1 as our minds can grasp4 ,it is1 then1 in the essence of our conception of identity that nothing should maintain a perfect identity2 there is an element of disintegration in the only conception of integration that we can form4 ,what is it1 then1 that makes this conflict not only possible and bearable but even pleasant8 ,what is it that so oils the machinery of our thoughts that things which would otherwise cause intolerable friction and heat produce no jar8 ,surely it is the principle that a very overwhelming majority rides rough-shod with impunity over a very small minority2 that a drop of brandy in a gallon of water is practically no brandy2 that a dozen maniacs among a hundred thousand people produce no unsettling effect upon our minds2 that a well-written i will go as an i even though the dot be omitted--it seems to me that it is this principle1 which is embodied in de minimis non curat lex1 that makes it possible that there should be majora and a lex to care about them4 ,this is saying in another form that association does not stick to the letter of its bond4 ,saints ,saints are always grumbling because the world will not take them at their own estimate2 so they cry out upon this place and upon that1 saying it does not know the things belonging to its peace and that it will be too late soon and that people will be very sorry then that they did not make more of the grumbler1 whoever he may be1 inasmuch as he will make it hot for them and pay them out generally4 ,all this means3 8,put me in a better social and financial position than ,i now occupy2 give me more of the good things of this life1 if not actual money yet authority 7which is better loved by most men than even money itself71 to reward me because ,i am to have such an extraordinary good fortune and high position in the world which is to come40 ,when their contemporaries do not see this and tell them that they cannot expect to have it both ways1 they lose their tempers1 shake the dust from their feet and go sulking off into the wilderness4 ,this is as regards themselves2 to their followers they say3 8,you must not expect to be able to make the best of both worlds4 ,the thing is absurd2 it cannot be done4 ,you must choose which you prefer1 go in for it and leave the other1 for you cannot have both40 ,when a saint complains that people do not know the things belonging to their peace1 what he really means is that they do not sufficiently care about the things belonging to his own peace4 ,prayer i ,lord1 let me know mine end1 and the number of my days3 that ,i may be certified how long ,i have to live 7,ps4 xxxix4 #e74 ,of all prayers this is the insanest4 ,that the one who uttered it should have made and retained a reputation is a strong argument in favour of his having been surrounded with courtiers4 8,lord1 let me not know mine end0 would be better1 only it would be praying for what ,god has already granted us4 8,lord1 let me know ,a4,b4's end0 would be bad enough4 ,even though ,a4,b4 were ,mr4 ,gladstone--we might hear he was not to die yet4 8,lord1 stop ,a4,b4 from knowing my end0 would be reasonable1 if there were any use in praying that ,a4,b4 might not be able to do what he never can do4 ,or can the prayer refer to the other end of life8 8,lord1 let me know my beginning40 ,this again would not be always prudent4 ,the prayer is a silly piece of petulance and it would have served the maker of it right to have had it granted4 8,a painful and lingering disease followed by death0 or 8,ninety1 a burden to yourself and every one else0--there is not so much to pick and choose between them4 ,surely1 8,i thank thee1 ,o ,lord1 that thou hast hidden mine end from me0 would be better4 ,the sting of death is in foreknowledge of the when and the how4 ,if again he had prayed that he might be able to make his psalms a little more lively1 and be saved from becoming the bore which he has been to so many generations of sick persons and young children--or that he might find a publisher for them with greater facility--but there is no end to it4 ,the prayer he did pray was about the worst he could have prayed and the psalmist1 being the psalmist1 naturally prayed it--unless ,i have misquoted him4 ii ,prayers are to men as dolls are to children4 ,they are not without use and comfort1 but it is not easy to take them very seriously4 ,i dropped saying mine suddenly once for all without malice prepense1 on the night of the #bith of ,september1 #ahei1 when ,i went on board the ,roman ,emperor to sail for ,new ,zealand4 ,i had said them the night before and doubted not that ,i was always going to say them as ,i always had done hitherto4 ,that night1 ,i suppose1 the sense of change was so great that it shook them quietly off4 ,i was not then a sceptic2 ,i had got as far as disbelief in infant baptism but no further4 ,i felt no compunction of conscience1 however1 about leaving off my morning and evening prayers--simply ,i could no longer say them4 iii ,lead us not into temptation 7,matt4 vi4 #ac74 ,for example2 ,i am crossing from ,calais to ,dover and there is a well-known popular preacher on board1 say ,archdeacon ,farrar4 ,i have my camera in my hand and though the sea is rough the sun is brilliant4 ,i see the archdeacon come on board at ,calais and seat himself upon the upper deck1 looking as though he had just stepped out of a band-box4 ,can ,i be expected to resist the temptation of snapping him8 ,suppose that in the train for an hour before reaching ,calais ,i had said any number of times1 8,lead us not into temptation10 is it likely that the archdeacon would have been made to take some other boat or to stay in ,calais1 or that ,i myself1 by being delayed on my homeward journey1 should have been led into some other temptation1 though perhaps smaller8 ,had ,i not better snap him and have done with it8 ,is there enough chance of good result to make it worth while to try the experiment8 ,the general consensus of opinion is that there is not4 ,and as for praying for strength to resist temptation--granted that if1 when ,i saw the archdeacon in the band-box stage1 ,i had immediately prayed for strength ,i might have been enabled to put the evil thing from me for a time1 how long would this have been likely to last when ,i saw his face grow saintlier and saintlier8 ,i am an excellent sailor myself1 but he is not1 and when ,i see him there1 his eyes closed and his head thrown back1 like a sleeping ,st4 ,joseph in a shovel hat1 with a basin beside him1 can ,i expect to be saved from snapping him by such a formula as 8,deliver us from evil08 ,is it in photographer's nature to do so8 ,when ,david found himself in the cave with ,saul he cut off one of ,saul's coattails2 if he had had a camera and there had been enough light he would have photographed him2 but would it have been in flesh and blood for him neither to cut off his coat-tail nor to snap him8 ,there is a photographer in every bush1 going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour4 iv ,teach me to live that ,i may dread ,the grave as little as my bed4 ,this is from the evening hymn which all respectable children are taught4 ,it sounds well1 but it is immoral4 ,our own death is a premium which we must pay for the far greater benefit we have derived from the fact that so many people have not only lived but also died before us4 ,for if the old ones had not in course of time gone there would have been no progress2 all our civilisation is due to the arrangement whereby no man shall live for ever1 and to this huge mass of advantage we must each contribute our mite2 that is to say1 when our turn comes we too must die4 ,the hardship is that interested persons should be able to scare us into thinking the change we call death to be the desperate business which they make it out to be4 ,there is no hardship in having to suffer that change4 ,bishop ,ken1 however1 goes too far4 ,undesirable1 of course1 death must always be to those who are fairly well off1 but it is undesirable that any living being should live in habitual indifference to death4 ,the indifference should be kept for worthy occasions1 and even then1 though death be gladly faced1 it is not healthy that it should be faced as though it were a mere undressing and going to bed4 ,,xiv ,higgledy-,piggledy ,preface to ,vol4 ,,ii ,,on indexing this volume1 as with ,vols4 ,i and ,,iv which are already indexed and as1 no doubt1 will be the case with any that ,i may live to index later1 ,i am alarmed at the triviality of many of these notes1 the ineptitude of many and the obvious untenableness of many that ,i should have done much better to destroy4 ,elmsley1 in one of his letters to ,dr4 ,butler1 says that an author is the worst person to put one of his own works through the press 7,life of ,dr4 ,butler1 ,i1 #hh74 ,it seems to me that he is the worst person also to make selections from his own notes or indeed even1 in my case1 to write them4 ,i cannot help it4 ,they grew as1 with little disturbance1 they now stand2 they are not meant for publication2 the bad ones serve as bread for the jam of the good ones2 it was less trouble to let them go than to think whether they ought not to be destroyed4 ,the retort1 however1 is obvious2 no thinking should have been required in respect of many--a glance should have consigned them to the waste-paper basket4 ,i know it and ,i know that many a one of those who look over these books--for that they will be looked over by not a few ,i doubt not--will think me to have been a greater fool than ,i probably was4 ,i cannot help it4 ,i have at any rate the consolation of also knowing that1 however much ,i may have irritated1 displeased or disappointed them1 they will not be able to tell me so2 and ,i think that1 to some1 such a record of passing moods and thoughts good1 bad and indifferent will be more valuable as throwing light upon the period to which it relates than it would have been if it had been edited with greater judgment4 ,besides1 ,vols4 ,i and ,,iv being already bound1 ,i should not have enough to form ,vols4 ,,ii and ,,iii if ,i cut out all those that ought to be cut out4 ,june1 #ahih4 ,p4,s4--,if ,i had re-read my preface to ,vol4 ,,iv1 ,i need not have written the above4 ,waste-,paper ,baskets ,every one should keep a mental waste-paper basket and the older he grows the more things he will consign to it--torn up to irrecoverable tatters4 ,flies in the ,milk-,jug ,saving scraps is like picking flies out of the milk-jug4 ,we do not mind doing this1 ,i suppose1 because we feel sure the flies will never want to borrow money off us4 ,we do not feel so sure about anything much bigger than a fly4 ,if it were a mouse that had got into the milk-jug1 we should call the cat at once4 ,my ,thoughts ,they are like persons met upon a journey2 ,i think them very agreeable at first but soon find1 as a rule1 that ,i am tired of them4 ,our ,ideas ,they are for the most part like bad sixpences and we spend our lives in trying to pass them on one another4 ,cat-,ideas and ,mouse-,ideas ,we can never get rid of mouse-ideas completely1 they keep turning up again and again1 and nibble1 nibble--no matter how often we drive them off4 ,the best way to keep them down is to have a few good strong cat-ideas which will embrace them and ensure their not reappearing till they do so in another shape4 ,incoherency of ,new ,ideas ,an idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent2 all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones4 ,we should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on1 in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better4 ,an ,apology for the ,devil ,it must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case4 ,god has written all the books4 ,hallelujah ,when we exclaim so triumphantly 8,hallelujah6 for the ,lord ,god omnipotent reigneth0 we only mean that we think no small beer of ourselves1 that our ,god is a much greater ,god than any one else's ,god1 that he was our father's ,god before us1 and that it is all right1 respectable and as it should be4 ,hating ,it does not matter much what a man hates provided he hates something4 ,hamlet1 ,don ,quixote1 ,mr4 ,pickwick and others ,the great characters of fiction live as truly as the memories of dead men4 ,for the life after death it is not necessary that a man or woman should have lived4 ,reputation ,the evil that men do lives after them4 ,yes1 and a good deal of the evil that they never did as well4 ,science and ,business ,the best class of scientific mind is the same as the best class of business mind4 ,the great desideratum in either case is to know how much evidence is enough to warrant action4 ,it is as unbusiness-like to want too much evidence before buying or selling as to be content with too little4 ,the same kind of qualities are wanted in either case4 ,the difference is that if the business man makes a mistake1 he commonly has to suffer for it1 whereas it is rarely that scientific blundering1 so long as it is confined to theory1 entails loss on the blunderer4 ,on the contrary it very often brings him fame1 money and a pension4 ,hence the business man1 if he is a good one1 will take greater care not to overdo or underdo things than the scientific man can reasonably be expected to take4 ,scientists ,there are two classes1 those who want to know and do not care whether others think they know or not1 and those who do not much care about knowing but care very greatly about being reputed as knowing4 ,scientific ,terminology ,this is the ,scylla's cave which men of science are preparing for themselves to be able to pounce out upon us from it1 and into which we cannot penetrate4 ,scientists and ,drapers ,why should the botanist1 geologist or other-ist give himself such airs over the draper's assistant8 ,is it because he names his plants or specimens with ,latin names and divides them into genera and species1 whereas the draper does not formulate his classifications1 or at any rate only uses his mother tongue when he does8 ,yet how like the sub-divisions of textile life are to those of the animal and vegetable kingdoms6 ,a few great families--cotton1 linen1 hempen1 woollen1 silk1 mohair1 alpaca--into what an infinite variety of genera and species do not these great families subdivide themselves8 ,and does it take less labour1 with less intelligence1 to master all these and to acquire familiarity with their various habits1 habitats and prices than it does to master the details of any other great branch of science8 ,i do not know4 ,but when ,i think of ,shoolbred's on the one hand and1 say1 the ornithological collections of the ,british ,museum upon the other1 ,i feel as though it would take me less trouble to master the second than the first4 ,men of ,science ,if they are worthy of the name they are indeed about ,god's path and about his bed and spying out all his ways4 ,sparks ,everything matters more than we think it does1 and1 at the same time1 nothing matters so much as we think it does4 ,the merest spark may set all ,europe in a blaze1 but though all ,europe be set in a blaze twenty times over1 the world will wag itself right again4 ,dumb-,bells ,i regard them with suspicion as academic4 ,purgatory ,time is the only true purgatory4 ,greatness ,he is greatest who is most often in men's good thoughts4 ,the ,vanity of ,human ,wishes ,there is only one thing vainer and that is the having no wishes4 ,jones's ,conscience ,he said he had not much conscience1 and what little he had was guilty4 ,nihilism ,the ,nihilists do not believe in nothing2 they only believe in nothing that does not commend itself to themselves2 that is1 they will not allow that anything may be beyond their comprehension4 ,as their comprehension is not great their creed is1 after all1 very nearly nihil4 ,on ,breaking ,habits ,to begin knocking off the habit in the evening1 then the afternoon as well and1 finally1 the morning too is better than to begin cutting it off in the morning and then go on to the afternoon and evening4 ,i speak from experience as regards smoking and can say that when one comes to within an hour or two of smoke-time one begins to be impatient for it1 whereas there will be no impatience after the time for knocking off has been confirmed as a habit4 ,dogs ,the great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you1 but he will make a fool of himself too4 ,future and ,past ,the ,will-be and the ,has-been touch us more nearly than the ,is4 ,so we are more tender towards children and old people than to those who are in the prime of life4 ,nature ,as the word is now commonly used it excludes nature's most interesting productions--the works of man4 ,nature is usually taken to mean mountains1 rivers1 clouds and undomesticated animals and plants4 ,i am not indifferent to this half of nature1 but it interests me much less than the other half4 ,lucky and ,unlucky ,people are lucky and unlucky not according to what they get absolutely1 but according to the ratio between what they get and what they have been led to expect4 ,definitions i ,as1 no matter what cunning system of checks we devise1 we must in the end trust some one whom we do not check1 but to whom we give unreserved confidence1 so there is a point at which the understanding and mental processes must be taken as understood without further question or definition in words4 ,and ,i should say that this point should be fixed pretty early in the discussion4 ii ,there is one class of mind that loves to lean on rules and definitions1 and another that discards them as far as possible4 ,a faddist will generally ask for a definition of faddism1 and one who is not a faddist will be impatient of being asked to give one4 iii ,a definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words4 iv ,definitions are a kind of scratching and generally leave a sore place more sore than it was before4 v ,as ,love is too young to know what conscience is1 so ,truth and ,genius are too old to know what definition is4 ,money ,it has such an inherent power to run itself clear of taint that human ingenuity cannot devise the means of making it work permanent mischief1 any more than means can be found of torturing people beyond what they can bear4 ,even if a man founds a ,college of ,technical ,instruction1 the chances are ten to one that no one will be taught anything and that it will have been practically left to a number of excellent professors who will know very well what to do with it4 ,wit ,there is no ,professor of ,wit at either ,university4 ,surely they might as reasonably have a professor of wit as of poetry4 ,oxford and ,cambridge ,the dons are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything4 ,cooking ,there is a higher average of good cooking at ,oxford and ,cambridge than elsewhere4 ,the cooking is better than the curriculum4 ,but there is no ,chair of ,cookery1 it is taught by apprenticeship in the kitchens4 ,perseus and ,st4 ,george ,these dragon-slayers did not take lessons in dragon-slaying1 nor do leaders of forlorn hopes generally rehearse their parts beforehand4 ,small things may be rehearsed1 but the greatest are always do-or-die1 neck-or-nothing matters4 ,specialism and ,generalism ,woe to the specialist who is not a pretty fair generalist1 and woe to the generalist who is not also a bit of a specialist4 ,silence and ,tact ,silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden1 not silence4 ,truth-tellers ,professional truth-tellers may be trusted to profess that they are telling the truth4 ,street ,preachers ,these are the costermongers and barrow men of the religious world4 ,providence and ,othello ,providence1 in making the rain fall also upon the sea1 was like the man who1 when he was to play ,othello1 must needs black himself all over4 ,providence and ,improvidence i ,we should no longer say3 ,put your trust in ,providence1 but in ,improvidence1 for this is what we mean4 ii ,to put one's trust in ,god is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it4 iii ,there is nothing so imprudent or so improvident as over-prudence or over-providence4 ,epiphany ,if ,providence could be seen at all1 he would probably turn out to be a very disappointing person--a little wizened old gentleman with a cold in his head1 a red nose and a comforter round his neck1 whistling o'er the furrow'd land or crooning to himself as he goes aimlessly along the streets1 poking his way about and loitering continually at shop-windows and second-hand book-stalls4 ,fortune ,like ,wisdom1 ,fortune crieth in the streets1 and no man regardeth4 ,there is not an advertisement supplement to the ,times--nay1 hardly a half sheet of newspaper that comes into a house wrapping up this or that1 but it gives information which would make a man's fortune1 if he could only spot it and detect the one paragraph that would do this among the #ii which would wreck him if he had anything to do with them4 ,gold-,mines ,gold is not found in quartz alone2 its richest lodes are in the eyes and ears of the public1 but these are harder to work and to prospect than any quartz vein4 ,things and ,purses ,everything is like a purse--there may be money in it1 and we can generally say by the feel of it whether there is or is not4 ,sometimes1 however1 we must turn it inside out before we can be quite sure whether there is anything in it or no4 ,when ,i have turned a proposition inside out1 put it to stand on its head1 and shaken it1 ,i have often been surprised to find how much came out of it4 ,solomon in all his ,glory ,but1 in the first place1 the lilies do toil and spin after their own fashion1 and1 in the next1 it was not desirable that ,solomon should be dressed like a lily of the valley4 ,david's ,teachers ,david said he had more understanding than his teachers4 ,if his teachers were anything like mine this need not imply much understanding on ,david's part4 ,and if his teachers did not know more than the ,psalms--it is absurd4 ,it is merely swagger1 like the ,german ,emperor4 #ahig4 ,s4 ,michael ,he contended with the devil about the body of ,moses4 ,now1 ,i do not believe that any reasonable person would contend about the body of ,moses with the devil or with any one else4 ,one ,form of ,failure ,from a worldly point of view there is no mistake so great as that of being always right4 ,andromeda ,the dragon was never in better health and spirits than on the morning when ,perseus came down upon him4 ,it is said that ,andromeda told ,perseus she had been thinking how remarkably well he was looking4 ,he had got up quite in his usual health--and so on4 ,when ,i said this to ,ballard a fellow art-student at ,heatherley's and that other thing which ,i said about ,andromeda in ,life and ,habit1 #bbe he remarked that he wished it had been so in the poets4 ,i looked at him4 8,ballard10 ,i said1 8,i also am #8the poets4'0 ,self-,confidence ,nothing is ever any good unless it is thwarted with self-distrust though in the main self-confident4 ,wandering ,when the inclination is not obvious1 the mind meanders1 or maunders1 as a stream in a flat meadow4 ,poverty ,i shun it because ,i have found it so apt to become contagious2 but ,i fancy my constitution is more seasoned against it now than formerly4 ,i hope that what ,i have gone through may have made me immune4 ,pedals or ,drones ,the discords of every age are rendered possible by being taken on a drone or pedal of cant1 common form and conventionality4 ,this drone is1 as it were1 the flour and suet of a plum pudding4 ,evasive ,nature ,she is one long ,this-way-and-it-isness and1 at the same time1 ,that-way-and-it-isn'tness4 ,she flies so like a snipe that she is hard to hit4 ,fashion ,fashion is like ,god1 man cannot see it in its holy of holies and live4 ,and it is1 like ,god1 increate1 springing out of nothing1 yet the maker of all things--ever changing yet the same yesterday1 to-day and for ever4 ,doctors and ,clergymen ,a physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of influencing conduct4 ,god is ,love ,i dare say4 ,but what a mischievous devil ,love is6 ,common ,chords ,if ,man is the tonic and ,god the dominant1 the ,devil is certainly the sub-dominant and ,woman is the relative minor4 ,god and the ,devil ,god and the ,devil are an effort after specialisation and division of labour4 ,sex ,the sexes are the first--or are among the first great experiments in the social subdivision of labour4 ,women ,if you choose to insist on the analogies and points of resemblance between men and women1 they are so great that the differences seem indeed small4 ,if1 on the other hand1 you are in a mood for emphasising the points of difference1 you can show that men and women have hardly anything in common4 ,and so with anything3 if a man wants to make a case he can generally find a way of doing so4 ,offers of ,marriage ,women sometimes say that they have had no offers1 and only wish that some one had ever proposed to them4 ,this is not the right way to put it4 ,what they should say is that though1 like all women1 they have been proposing to men all their lives1 yet they grieve to remember that they have been invariably refused4 ,marriage i ,the question of marriage or non-marriage is only the question of whether it is better to be spoiled one way or another4 ii ,in matrimony1 to hesitate is sometimes to be saved4 iii ,inoculation1 or a hair of the dog that is going to bite you--this principle should be introduced in respect of marriage and speculation4 ,life and ,love ,to live is like to love--all reason is against it1 and all healthy instinct for it4 ,the ,basis of ,life ,we may say what we will1 but ,life is1 au fond1 sensual4 ,woman ,suffrage ,i will vote for it when women have left off making a noise in the reading-room of the ,british ,museum1 when they leave off wearing high head-dresses in the pit of a theatre and when ,i have seen as many as twelve women in all catch hold of the strap or bar on getting into an omnibus4 ,manners ,makyth ,man ,yes1 but they make woman still more4 ,women and ,religion ,it has been said that all sensible men are of the same religion and that no sensible man ever says what that religion is4 ,so all sensible men are of the same opinion about women and no sensible man ever says what that opinion is4 ,happiness ,behold and see if there be any happiness like unto the happiness of the devils when they found themselves cast out of ,mary ,magdalene4 ,sorrow within ,sorrow ,he was in reality damned glad2 he told people he was sorry he was not more sorry1 and here began the first genuine sorrow1 for he was really sorry that people would not believe he was sorry that he was not more sorry4 ,going ,away ,i can generally bear the separation1 but ,i don't like the leave-taking4 ,,xv ,titles and ,subjects ,titles ,a ,,good title should aim at making what follows as far as possible superfluous to those who know anything of the subject4 8,the ,ancient ,mariner0 ,this poem would not have taken so well if it had been called 8,the ,old ,sailor10 so that ,wardour ,street has its uses4 ,for ,unwritten ,articles1 ,essays1 ,stories ,the ,art of ,quarrelling4 ,christian ,death-beds4 ,the ,book of ,babes and ,sucklings4 ,literary ,struldbrugs4 ,the ,life of the ,world to ,come4 ,the ,limits of ,good ,faith4 ,art1 ,money and ,religion4 ,the ,third ,class ,excursion ,train1 or ,steam-boat1 as the ,church of the ,future4 ,the ,utter ,speculation involved in much of the good advice that is commonly given--as never to sell a reversion1 etc4 ,tracts for ,children1 warning them against the virtues of their elders4 ,making ,ready for ,death as a ,means of ,prolonging ,life4 ,an ,essay concerning ,human ,misunderstanding4 ,so ,mc,culloch a fellow art-student at ,heatherley's1 a very fine draughtsman used to say that he drew a great many lines and saved the best of them4 ,illusion1 mistake1 action taken in the dark--these are among the main sources of our progress4 ,the ,elements of ,immorality for the ,use of ,earnest ,schoolmasters4 ,family ,prayers3 ,a series of perfectly plain and sensible ones asking for what people really do want without any kind of humbug4 ,a ,penitential ,psalm as ,david would have written it if he had been reading ,herbert ,spencer4 ,a ,few ,little ,crows which ,i have to pick with various people4 ,the ,scylla of ,atheism and the ,charybdis of ,christianity4 ,the ,battle of the ,prigs and ,blackguards4 ,that ,good may ,come4 ,the ,marriage of ,inconvenience4 ,the ,judicious ,separation4 ,fooling ,around4 ,higgledy-,piggledy4 ,the ,diseases and ,ordinary ,causes of ,mortality among ,friendships4 ,the finding a lot of old photographs at ,herculaneum or ,thebes2 and they should turn out to be of no interest4 ,on the points of resemblance and difference between the dropping off of leaves from a tree and the dropping off of guests from a dinner or a concert4 ,the ,sense of ,touch3 ,an essay showing that all the senses resolve themselves ultimately into a sense of touch1 and that eating is touch carried to the bitter end4 ,so there is but one sense--touch--and the amba has it4 ,when ,i look upon the foraminifera ,i look upon myself4 ,the ,china ,shepherdess with ,lamb on public-house chimney-pieces in ,england as against the ,virgin with ,child in ,italy4 ,for a ,medical pamphlet3 ,cant as a means of ,prolonging ,life4 ,for an ,art book3 ,the ,complete ,pot-boiler2 or what to paint and how to paint it1 with illustrations reproduced from contemporary exhibitions and explanatory notes4 ,for a ,picture3 ,st4 ,francis preaching to ,silenus4 ,fra ,angelico and ,rubens might collaborate to produce this picture4 ,the ,happy ,mistress4 ,fifteen mistresses apply for three cooks and the mistress who thought herself nobody is chosen by the beautiful and accomplished cook4 ,the ,complete ,drunkard4 ,he would not give money to sober people1 he said they would only eat it and send their children to school with it4 ,the ,contented ,porpoise4 ,it knew it was to be stuffed and set up in a glass case after death1 and looked forward to this as to a life of endless happiness4 ,the ,flying ,balance4 ,the ghost of an old cashier haunts a ledger1 so that the books always refuse to balance by the sum of1 say1 #a4ae4aa4 ,no matter how many accountants are called in1 year after year the same error always turns up2 sometimes they think they have it right and it turns out there was a mistake1 so the old error reappears4 ,at last a son and heir is born1 and at some festivities the old cashier's name is mentioned with honour4 ,this lays his ghost4 ,next morning the books are found correct and remain so4 ,a ,dialogue between ,isaac and ,ishmael on the night that ,isaac came down from the mountain with his father4 ,the rebellious ,ishmael tries to stir up ,isaac1 and that good young man explains the righteousness of the transaction--without much effect4 ,bad ,habits3 on the dropping them gradually1 as one leaves off requiring them1 on the evolution principle4 ,a ,story about a ,freethinking ,father who has an illegitimate son which he considers the proper thing2 he finds this son taking to immoral ways1 e4g4 he turns ,christian1 becomes a clergyman and insists on marrying4 ,for a ,ballad3 ,two sets of rooms in some alms-houses at ,cobham near ,gravesend have an inscription stating that they belong to 8the ,hundred of ,hoo in the ,isle of ,grain40 ,these words would make a lovely refrain for a ballad4 ,a story about a man who suffered from atrophy of the purse1 or atrophy of the opinions2 but whatever the disease some plausible ,latin1 or imitation-,latin name must be found for it and also some cure4 ,a ,fairy ,story modelled on the ,ugly ,duckling of ,hans ,andersen about a bumptious boy whom all the nice boys hated4 ,he finds out that he was really at last caressed by the ,huxleys and ,tyndalls as one of themselves4 ,a ,collection of the letters of people who have committed suicide2 and also of people who only threaten to do so4 ,the first may be got abundantly from reports of coroners' inquests1 the second would be harder to come by4 ,the ,structure and ,comparative ,anatomy of ,fads1 ,fancies and ,theories2 showing1 moreover1 that men and women exist only as the organs and tools of the ideas that dominate them2 it is the fad that is alone living4 ,an ,astronomical ,speculation3 ,each fixed star has a separate god whose body is his own particular solar system1 and these gods know each other1 move about among each other as we do1 laugh at each other and criticise one another's work4 ,write some of their discourses with and about one another4 ,imaginary ,worlds ,a world exactly1 to the minutest detail1 a duplicate of our own1 but as we shall be five hundred1 or from that to twenty thousand1 years hence4 ,let there be also another world1 a duplicate of what we were five hundred to twenty thousand years ago4 ,there should be many worlds of each kind at different dates behind us and ahead of us4 ,i send a visitor from a world ahead of us to a world behind us1 after which he comes to us1 and so we learn what happened in the ,homeric age4 ,my visitor will not tell me what has happened in his own world since the time corresponding to the present moment in our world1 because the knowledge of the future would be not only fatal to ourselves but would upset the similarity between the two worlds1 so they would be no longer able to refer to us for information on any point of history from the moment of the introduction of the disturbing element4 ,when they are in doubt about a point in their past history that we have not yet reached they make preparation and forecast its occurrence in our world as we foretell eclipses and transits of ,venus1 and all their most accomplished historians investigate it2 but if the conditions for observation have been unfavourable1 or if they postpone consideration of the point till the time of its happening here has gone by1 then they must wait for many years till the same combination occurs in some other world4 ,thus they say1 8,the next beheading of ,king ,charles ,i will be in ,ald4 b4 x4 #bca;c_/d0--or whatever the name of the star may be--8on such and such a day of such and such a year1 and there will not be another in the lifetime of any man now living10 or there will1 in such and such a star1 as the case may be4 ,communication with a world twenty thousand years ahead of us might ruin the human race as effectually as if we had fallen into the sun4 ,it would be too wide a cross4 ,the people in my supposed world know this and if1 for any reason1 they want to kill a civilisation1 stuff it and put it into a museum1 they tell it something that is too much ahead of its other ideas1 something that travels faster than thought1 thus setting an avalanche of new ideas tumbling in upon it and utterly destroying everything4 ,sometimes they merely introduce a little poisonous microbe of thought which the cells in the world where it is introduced do not know how to deal with--some such trifle as that two and two make seven1 or that you can weigh time in scales by the pound2 a single such microbe of knowledge placed in the brain of a fitting subject would breed like wild fire and kill all that came in contact with it4 ,and so on4 ,an ,idyll ,i knew a ,south ,italian of the old ,greek blood whose sister told him when he was a boy that he had eyes like a cow4 ,raging with despair and grief he haunted the fountains and looked into the mirror of their waters4 8,are my eyes10 he asked himself with horror1 8are they really like the eyes of a cow80 8,alas60 he was compelled to answer1 8they are only too sadly1 sadly like them40 ,and he asked those of his playmates whom he best knew and trusted whether it was indeed true that his eyes were like the eyes of a cow1 but he got no comfort from any of them1 for they one and all laughed at him and said that they were not only like1 but very like4 ,then grief consumed his soul1 and he could eat no food1 till one day the loveliest girl in the place said to him3 8,gaetano1 my grandmother is ill and cannot get her firewood2 come with me to the bosco this evening and help me to bring her a load or two1 will you80 ,and he said he would go4 ,so when the sun was well down and the cool night air was sauntering under the chestnuts1 the pair sat together cheek to cheek and with their arms round each other's waists4 8,o ,gaetano10 she exclaimed1 8,i do love you so very dearly4 ,when you look at me your eyes are like--they are like the eyes0--here she faltered a little--8the eyes of a cow40 ,thenceforward he cared not 4 4 4 ,and so on4 ,a ,divorce ,novelette ,the hero and heroine are engaged against their wishes4 ,they like one another very well but each is in love with some one else2 nevertheless1 under an uncle's will1 they forfeit large property unless they marry one another1 so they get married1 making no secret to one another that they dislike it very much4 ,on the evening of their wedding day they broach the subject that has long been nearest to their hearts--the possibility of being divorced4 ,they discuss it tearfully1 but the obstacles seem insuperable4 ,nevertheless they agree that faint heart never yet got rid of fair lady1 8,none but the brave10 exclaims the husband1 8deserve to lose the fair10 and they plight their most solemn vows that they will henceforth live but for the object of getting divorced from one another4 ,but the course of true divorce never did run smooth1 and the plot turns upon the difficulties that meet them and how they try to overcome them4 ,at one time they seem almost certain of success1 but the cup is dashed from their lips and is farther off than ever4 ,at last an opportunity occurs in an unlooked-for manner4 ,they are divorced and live happily apart ever afterwards4 ,the ,moral ,painter--,a ,tale of ,double ,personality ,once upon a time there was a painter who divided his life into two halves2 in the one half he painted pot-boilers for the market1 setting every consideration aside except that of doing for his master1 the public1 something for which he could get paid the money on which he lived4 ,he was great at floods and never looked at nature except in order to see what would make most show with least expense4 ,on the whole he found nothing so cheap to make and easy to sell as veiled heads4 ,the other half of his time he studied and painted with the sincerity of ,giovanni ,bellini1 ,rembrandt1 ,holbein or ,de ,hooghe4 ,he was then his own master and thought only of doing his work as well as he could1 regardless of whether it would bring him anything but debt and abuse or not4 ,he gave his best without receiving so much as thanks4 ,he avoided the temptation of telling either half about the other4 ,two ,writers ,one left little or nothing about himself and the world complained that it was puzzled4 ,another1 mindful of this1 left copious details about himself1 whereon the world said that it was even more puzzled about him than about the man who had left nothing1 till presently it found out that it was also bored1 and troubled itself no more about either4 ,the ,archbishop of ,heligoland ,the ,archbishop of ,heligoland believes his faith1 and it makes him so unhappy that he finds it impossible to advise any one to accept it4 ,he summons the ,devil1 makes a compact with him and is relieved by being made to see that there was nothing in it--whereon he is very good and happy and leads a most beneficent life1 but is haunted by the thought that on his death the ,devil will claim his bond4 ,this terror grows greater and greater1 and he determines to see the ,devil again4 ,the upshot of it all is that the ,devil turns out to have been ,christ who has a dual life and appears sometimes as ,christ and sometimes as the ,devil4 #bce ,,xvi ,written ,sketches ,literary ,sketch-,books ,,the true writer will stop everywhere and anywhere to put down his notes1 as the true painter will stop everywhere and anywhere to sketch4 ,i do not see why an author should not have a sale of literary sketches1 each one short1 slight and capable of being framed and glazed in small compass4 ,they would make excellent library decorations and ought to fetch as much as an artist's sketches4 ,they might be cut up in suitable lots1 if the fashion were once set1 and many a man might be making provision for his family at odd times with his notes as an artist does with his sketches4 ,london ,if ,i were asked what part of ,london ,i was most identified with after ,clifford's ,inn itself1 ,i should say ,fetter ,lane--every part of it4 ,just by the ,record ,office is one of the places where ,i am especially prone to get ideas2 so also is the other end1 about the butcher's shop near ,holborn4 ,the reason in both cases is the same1 namely1 that ,i have about had time to settle down to reflection after leaving1 on the one hand1 my rooms in ,clifford's ,inn and1 on the other1 ,jones's rooms in ,barnard's ,inn where ,i usually spend the evening4 ,the subject which has occupied my mind during the day being approached anew after an interval and a shake1 some fresh idea in connection with it often strikes me4 ,but long before ,i knew ,jones1 ,fetter ,lane was always a street which ,i was more in than perhaps any other in ,london4 ,leather ,lane1 the road through ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields to the ,museum1 the ,embankment1 ,fleet ,street1 the ,strand and ,charing ,cross come next4 ,a ,clifford's ,inn ,euphemism ,people when they want to get rid of their cats1 and do not like killing them1 bring them to the garden of ,clifford's ,inn1 drop them there and go away4 ,in spite of all that is said about cats being able to find their way so wonderfully1 they seldom do find it1 and once in ,clifford's ,inn the cat generally remains there4 ,the technical word among the laundresses in the inn for this is1 8losing0 a cat3 8,poor thing1 poor thing10 said one old woman to me a few days ago1 8it's got no fur on its head at all1 and no doubt that's why the people she lived with lost her40 ,london ,trees ,they are making a great outcry about the ventilators on the ,thames ,embankment1 just as they made a great outcry about the ,griffin in ,fleet ,street4 ,see ,alps and ,sanctuaries4 ,introduction4 ,they say the ventilators have spoiled the ,thames ,embankment4 ,they do not spoil it half so much as the statues do--indeed1 ,i do not see that they spoil it at all4 ,the trees that are planted everywhere are1 or will be1 a more serious nuisance4 ,trees are all very well where there is plenty of room1 otherwise they are a mistake2 they keep in the moisture1 exclude light and air1 and their roots disturb foundations2 most of our ,london ,squares would look much better if the trees were thinned4 ,i should like to cut down all the plane trees in the garden of ,clifford's ,inn and leave only the others4 ,what ,i ,said to the ,milkman ,one afternoon ,i heard a knock at the door and found it was the milkman4 ,mrs4 ,doncaster his laundress was not there1 so ,i took in the milk myself4 ,the milkman is a very nice man1 and1 by way of making himself pleasant1 said1 rather complainingly1 that the weather kept very dry4 ,i looked at him significantly and said3 8,ah1 yes1 of course for your business you must find it very inconvenient10 and laughed4 ,he saw he had been caught and laughed too4 ,it was a very old joke1 but he had not expected it at that particular moment1 and on the top of such an innocent remark4 ,the ,return of the ,jews to ,palestine ,a man called on me last week and proposed gravely that ,i should write a book upon an idea which had occurred to a friend of his1 a ,jew living in ,new ,bond ,street4 ,it was a plan requiring the co-operation of a brilliant writer and that was why he had come to me4 ,if only ,i would help1 the return of the ,jews to ,palestine would be rendered certain and easy4 ,there was no trouble about the poor ,jews1 he knew how he could get them back at any time2 the difficulty lay with the ,rothschilds1 the ,oppenheims and such2 with my assistance1 however1 the thing could be done4 ,i am afraid ,i was rude enough to decline to go into the scheme on the ground that ,i did not care twopence whether the ,rothschilds and ,oppenheims went back to ,palestine or not4 ,this was felt to be an obstacle2 but then he began to try and make me care1 whereupon1 of course1 ,i had to get rid of him4 #ahhc4 ,the ,great ,bear's ,barley-,water ,last night ,jones was walking down with me from ,staple ,inn to ,clifford's ,inn1 about #aj o'clock1 and we saw the ,great ,bear standing upright on the tip of his tail which was coming out of a chimney pot4 ,jones said it wanted attending to4 ,i said3 8,yes1 but to attend to it properly we ought to sit up with it all night1 and if the ,great ,bear thinks that ,i am going to sit by his bed-side and give him a spoonful of barley-water every ten minutes1 he will find himself much mistaken40 #ahib4 ,the ,cock ,tavern ,i went into ,fleet ,street one ,sunday morning last ,november #ahhb with my camera lucida to see whether ,i should like to make a sketch of the gap made by the demolition of the ,cock ,tavern4 ,it was rather pretty1 with an old roof or two behind and scaffolding about and torn paper hanging to an exposed party-wall and old fireplaces and so on1 but it was not very much out of the way4 ,still ,i would have taken it if it had not been the ,cock4 ,i thought of all the trash that has been written about it and of ,tennyson's plump head waiter 7who by the way used to swear that he did not know ,tennyson and that ,tennyson never did resort to the ,cock7 and ,i said to myself3 8,no--you may go4 ,i will put out no hand to save you40 ,myself in ,dowie's ,shop ,i always buy ready-made boots and insist on taking those which the shopman says are much too large for me4 ,by this means ,i keep free from corns1 but ,i have a great deal of trouble generally with the shopman4 ,i had got on a pair once which ,i thought would do1 and the shopman said for the third or fourth time3 8,but really1 sir1 these boots are much too large for you40 ,i turned to him and said rather sternly1 8,now1 you made that remark before40 ,there was nothing in it1 but all at once ,i became aware that ,i was being watched1 and1 looking up1 saw a middle-aged gentleman eyeing the whole proceedings with much amusement4 ,he was quite polite but he was obviously exceedingly amused4 ,i can hardly tell why1 nor why ,i should put such a trifle down1 but somehow or other an impression was made upon me by the affair quite out of proportion to that usually produced by so small a matter4 ,my ,dentist ,mr4 ,forsyth had been stopping a tooth for me and then talked a little1 as he generally does1 and asked me if ,i knew a certain distinguished literary man1 or rather journalist4 ,i said ,no1 and that ,i did not want to know him4 ,the paper edited by the gentleman in question was not to my taste4 ,i was a literary ,ishmael1 and preferred to remain so4 ,it was my rle4 8,it seems to me10 ,i continued1 8that if a man will only be careful not to write about things that he does not understand1 if he will use the tooth-pick freely and the spirit twice a day1 and come to you again in ,october1 he will get on very well without knowing any of the big-wigs40 8,the tooth-pick freely0 and 8the spirit twice a day0 being tags of ,mr4 ,forsyth's1 he laughed4 ,furber the ,violin-,maker ,from what my cousin ,reginald ,e4 ,worsley and ,gogin both tell me ,i am sure that ,furber is one of the best men we have4 ,my cousin did not like to send ,hyam to him for a violin3 he did not think him worthy to have one4 ,furber does not want you to buy a violin unless you can appreciate it when you have it4 ,my cousin says of him3 8,he is generally a little tight on a ,saturday afternoon4 ,he always speaks the truth1 but on ,saturday afternoons it comes pouring out more40 8,his joints i4e4 the joints of the violins he makes are the closest and neatest that were ever made40 8,he always speaks of the corners of a fiddle2 ,haweis would call them the points4 ,haweis calls it the neck of a fiddle4 ,furber always the handle40 ,my cousin says he would like to take his violins to bed with him4 ,speaking of ,strad violins ,furber said3 8,rough1 rough linings1 but they look as if they grew together40 ,one day my cousin called and ,furber1 on opening the door1 before saying 8,how do you do80 or any word of greeting1 said very quietly3 8,the dog is dead40 ,my cousin1 having said what he thought sufficient1 took up a violin and played a few notes4 ,furber evidently did not like it4 ,rose1 the dog1 was still unburied2 she was laid out in that very room4 ,my cousin stopped4 ,then ,mrs4 ,furber came in4 ,r4 ,e4 ,w4 8,i am very sorry1 ,mrs4 ,furber1 to hear about ,rose40 ,mrs4 ,f4 8,well1 yes sir4 ,but ,i suppose it is all for the best40 ,r4 ,e4 ,w4 8,i am afraid you will miss her a great deal40 ,mrs4 ,f4 8,no doubt we shall1 sir2 but you see she is only gone a little while before us40 ,r4 ,e4 ,w4 8,oh1 ,mrs4 ,furber1 ,i hope a good long while40 ,mrs4 ,f4 7brightening74 8,well1 yes sir1 ,i don't want to go just yet1 though ,mr4 ,furber does say it is a happy thing to die40 ,my cousin says that ,furber hardly knows any one by their real name4 ,he identifies them by some nickname in connection with the fiddles they buy from him or get him to repair1 or by some personal peculiarity4 8,there is one man10 said my cousin1 8whom he calls #8diaphragm' because he wanted a fiddle made with what he called a diaphragm in it4 ,he knows ,dando and ,carrodus and ,jenny ,lind1 but hardly any one else40 8,who is ,dando80 said ,i4 8,why1 ,dando8 ,not know ,dando8 ,he was ,george the ,fourth's music master1 and is now one of the oldest members of the profession40 ,window ,cleaning in the ,british ,museum ,reading-,room ,once a year or so the figures on the ,assyrian bas-reliefs break adrift and may be seen1 with their scaling ladders and all1 cleaning the outside of the windows in the dome of the reading-room4 ,it is very pretty to watch them and they would photograph beautifully4 ,if ,i live to see them do it again ,i must certainly snapshot them4 ,you can see them smoking and sparring1 and this year they have left a little hole in the window above the clock4 ,the ,electric ,light in its ,infancy ,i heard a woman in a 'bus boring her lover about the electric light4 ,she wanted to know this and that1 and the poor lover was helpless4 ,then she said she wanted to know how it was regulated4 ,at last she settled down by saying that she knew it was in its infancy4 ,the word 8infancy0 seemed to have a soothing effect upon her1 for she said no more but1 leaning her head against her lover's shoulder1 composed herself to slumber4 ,fire ,i was at one the other night and heard a man say3 8,that corner stack is alight now quite nicely40 ,people's sympathies seem generally to be with the fire so long as no one is in danger of being burned4 ,adam and ,eve ,a little boy and a little girl were looking at a picture of ,adam and ,eve4 8,which is ,adam and which is ,eve80 said one4 8,i do not know10 said the other1 8but ,i could tell if they had their clothes on40 ,does ,mamma ,know8 ,a father was telling his eldest daughter1 aged about six1 that she had a little sister1 and was explaining to her how nice it all was4 ,the child said it was delightful and added3 8,does ,mamma know8 ,let's go and tell her40 ,mr4 ,darwin in the ,zoological ,gardens ,frank ,darwin told me his father was once standing near the hippopotamus cage when a little boy and girl1 aged four and five1 came up4 ,the hippopotamus shut his eyes for a minute4 8,that bird's dead10 said the little girl2 8come along40 ,terbourg ,gogin told me that ,berg1 an impulsive ,swede whom he had known in ,laurens's studio in ,paris and who painted very well1 came to ,london and was taken by an artist friend ,henry ,scott ,tuke1 ,a4,r4,a4 to the ,national ,gallery where he became very enthusiastic about the ,terbourgs4 ,they then went for a walk and1 in ,kensington ,gore1 near one of the entrances to ,hyde ,park or ,kensington ,gardens1 there was an old ,irish apple-woman sitting with her feet in a basket1 smoking a pipe and selling oranges4 8,arranges two a penny1 sorr10 said the old woman in a general way4 ,and ,berg1 turning to her and throwing out his hands appealingly1 said3 8,o1 madame1 avez-vous vu les ,terbourgs8 ,allez voir les ,terbourgs40 ,he felt that such a big note had been left out of the life of any one who had not seen them4 ,at ,doctors' ,commons ,a woman once stopped me at the entrance to ,doctors' ,commons and said3 8,if you please1 sir1 can you tell me--is this the place that ,i came to before80 ,not knowing where she had been before ,i could not tell her4 ,the ,sack of ,khartoum ,as ,i was getting out of a 'bus the conductor said to me in a confidential tone3 8,i say1 what does that mean8 #8,sack of ,khartoum'8 ,what does #8,sack of ,khartoum' mean80 8,it means10 said ,i1 8that they've taken ,khartoum and played hell with it all round40 ,he understood that and thanked me1 whereon we parted4 ,missolonghi ,ballard a fellow art-student with ,butler at ,heatherley's told me that an old governess1 some twenty years since1 was teaching some girls modern geography4 ,one of them did not know the name ,missolonghi4 ,the old lady wrung her hands3 8,why1 me dear10 she exclaimed1 8when ,i was your age ,i could never hear the name mentioned without bursting into tears40 ,i should perhaps add that ,byron died there4 ,memnon ,i saw the driver of the ,hampstead 'bus once1 near ,st4 ,giles's ,church--an old1 fat1 red-faced man sitting bolt upright on the top of his 'bus in a driving storm of snow1 fast asleep with a huge waterproof over his great-coat which descended with sweeping lines on to a tarpaulin4 ,all this rose out of a cloud of steam from the horses4 ,he had a short clay pipe in his mouth but1 for the moment1 he looked just like ,memnon4 ,manzi the ,model ,they had promised him sittings at the ,royal ,academy and then refused him on the ground that his legs were too hairy4 ,he complained to ,gogin3 8,why10 said he1 8,i sat at the ,slade ,school for the figure only last week1 and there were five ladies1 but not one of them told me my legs were too hairy40 ,a ,sailor ,boy and ,some ,chickens ,a pretty girl in the train had some chirping chickens about ten days' old in a box labelled 8,german egg powders4 ,one packet equal to six eggs40 ,a sailor boy got in at ,basingstoke1 a quiet1 reserved youth1 well behaved and unusually good-looking4 ,by and by the chickens were taken out of the box and fed with biscuit on the carriage seat4 ,this thawed the boy who1 though he fought against it for some lime1 yielded to irresistible fascination and said3 8,what are they80 8,chickens10 said the girl4 8,will they grow bigger80 8,yes40 ,then the boy said with an expression of infinite wonder3 8,and did you hatch them from they powders80 ,we all laughed till the boy blushed and ,i was very sorry for him4 ,if we had said they had been hatched from the powders he would have certainly believed us4 ,gogin1 the ,japanese ,gentleman and the ,dead ,dog ,gogin was one day going down ,cleveland ,street and saw an old1 lean1 careworn man crying over the body of his dog which had been just run over and killed by the old man's own cart4 ,i have no doubt it was the dog's fault1 for the man was in great distress2 as for the dog there it lay all swelled and livid where the wheel had gone over it1 its eyes protruded from their sockets and its tongue lolled out1 but it was dead4 ,the old man gazed on it1 helplessly weeping1 for some time and then got a large piece of brown paper in which he wrapped up the body of his favourite2 he tied it neatly with a piece of string and1 placing it in his cart1 went homeward with a heavy heart4 ,the day was dull1 the gutters were full of cabbage stalks and the air resounded with the cry of costermongers4 ,on this a ,japanese gentleman1 who had watched the scene1 lifted up his voice and made the bystanders a set oration4 ,he was very yellow1 had long black hair1 gold spectacles and a top hat2 he was a typical ,japanese1 but he spoke ,english perfectly4 ,he said the scene they had all just witnessed was a very sad one and that it ought not to be passed over entirely without comment4 ,he explained that it was very nice of the good old man to be so sorry about his dog and to be so careful of its remains and that he and all the bystanders must sympathise with him in his grief1 and as the expression of their sympathy1 both with the man and with the poor dog1 he had thought fit1 with all respect1 to make them his present speech4 ,i have not the man's words but ,gogin said they were like a ,japanese drawing1 that is to say1 wonderfully charming1 and showing great knowledge but not done in the least after the manner in which a ,european would do them4 ,the bystanders stood open-mouthed and could make nothing of it1 but they liked it1 and the ,japanese gentleman liked addressing them4 ,when he left off and went away they followed him with their eyes1 speechless4 ,st4 ,pancras' ,bells ,gogin lives at #afd ,euston ,road1 just opposite ,st4 ,pancras ,church1 and the bells play doleful hymn tunes opposite his window which worries him4 ,my ,st4 ,dunstan's bells near ,clifford's ,inn play doleful hymn tunes which enter in at my window2 ,i not only do not dislike them1 but rather like them2 they are so silly and the bells are out of tune4 ,i never yet was annoyed by either bells or street music except when a loud piano organ strikes up outside the public-house opposite my bedroom window after ,i am in bed and when ,i am just going to sleep4 ,however1 ,jones was at ,gogin's one summer evening and the bells struck up their dingy old burden as usual4 ,the tonic bell on which the tune concluded was the most stuffy and out of tune4 ,gogin said it was like the smell of a bug4 ,at ,eynsford ,i saw a man painting there the other day but passed his work without looking at it and sat down to sketch some hundred of yards off4 ,in course of time he came strolling round to see what ,i was doing and ,i1 not knowing but what he might paint much better than ,i1 was apologetic and said ,i was not a painter by profession4 8,what are you80 said he4 ,i said ,i was a writer4 8,dear me10 said he4 8,why that's my line--,i'm a writer40 ,i laughed and said ,i hoped he made it pay better than ,i did4 ,he said it paid very well and asked me where ,i lived and in what neighbourhood my connection lay4 ,i said ,i had no connection but only wrote books4 8,oh6 ,i see4 ,you mean you are an author4 ,i'm not an author2 ,i didn't mean that4 ,i paint people's names up over their shops1 and that's what we call being a writer4 ,there isn't a touch on my work as good as any touch on yours40 ,i was gratified by so much modesty and1 on my way back to dinner1 called to see his work4 ,i am afraid that he was not far wrong--it was awful4 ,omne ignotum pro magnifico holds with painters perhaps more than elsewhere2 we never see a man sketching1 or even carrying a paint-box1 without rushing to the conclusion that he can paint very well4 ,there is no cheaper way of getting a reputation than that of going about with easel1 paint-box1 etc41 provided one can ensure one's work not being seen4 ,and the more traps one carries the cleverer people think one4 ,mrs4 ,hicks ,she and her husband1 an old army sergeant who was all through the ,indian ,mutiny1 are two very remarkable people2 they keep a public-house where we often get our beer when out for our ,sunday walk4 ,she owns to sixty-seven1 ,i should think she was a full seventy-five1 and her husband1 say1 sixty-five4 ,she is a tall1 raw-boned ,gothic woman with a strong family likeness to the crooked old crusader who lies in the church transept1 and one would expect to find her body scrawled over with dates ranging from #djj years ago to the present time1 just as the marble figure itself is4 ,she has a great beard and moustaches and three projecting teeth in her lower jaw but no more in any part of her mouth4 ,she moves slowly and is always a little in liquor besides being singularly dirty in her person4 ,her husband is like unto her4 ,for all this they are hard-working industrious people1 keep no servant1 pay cash for everything1 are clearly going up rather than down in the world and live well4 ,she always shows us what she is going to have for dinner and it is excellent--8,and ,i made the stuffing over night and the gravy first thing this morning40 ,each time we go we find the house a little more done up4 ,she dotes on ,mr4 ,hicks--we never go there without her wedding day being referred to4 ,she has earned her own living ever since she was ten years old1 and lived twenty-nine and a half years in the house from which ,mr4 ,hicks married her4 8,i am as happy10 she said1 8as the day is long40 ,she dearly loves a joke and a little flirtation4 ,i always say something perhaps a little impudently broad to her and she likes it extremely4 ,last time she sailed smilingly out of the room1 doubtless to tell ,mr4 ,hicks1 and came back still smiling4 ,when we come we find her as though she had lien among the pots1 but as soon as she has given us our beer1 she goes upstairs and puts on a cap and a clean apron and washes her face--that is to say1 she washes a round piece in the middle of her face1 leaving a great glory of dirt showing all round it4 ,it is plain the pair are respected by the manner in which all who come in treat them4 ,last time we were there she said she hoped she should not die yet4 8,you see10 she said1 8,i am beginning now to know how to live40 ,these were her own words and1 considering the circumstances under which they were spoken1 they are enough to stamp the speaker as a remarkable woman4 ,she has got as much from age and lost as little from youth as woman can well do4 ,nevertheless1 to look at1 she is like one of the witches in ,macbeth4 ,new-,laid ,eggs ,when ,i take my ,sunday walks in the country1 ,i try to buy a few really new-laid eggs warm from the nest4 ,at this time of the year 7,january7 they are very hard to come by1 and ,i have long since invented a sick wife who has implored me to get her a few eggs laid not earlier than the self-same morning4 ,of late1 as ,i am getting older1 it has become my daughter who has just had a little baby4 ,this will generally draw a new-laid egg1 if there is one about the place at all4 ,at ,harrow ,weald it has always been my wife who for years has been a great sufferer and finds a really new-laid egg the one thing she can digest in the way of solid food4 ,so ,i turned her on as movingly as ,i could not long since1 and was at last sold some eggs that were no better than common shop eggs1 if so good4 ,next time ,i went ,i said my poor wife had been made seriously ill by them2 it was no good trying to deceive her2 she could tell a new-laid egg from a bad one as well as any woman in ,london1 and she had such a high temper that it was very unpleasant for me when she found herself disappointed4 8,ah6 sir10 said the landlady1 8but you would not like to lose her40 8,ma'am10 ,i replied1 8,i must not allow my thoughts to wander in that direction4 ,but it's no use bringing her stale eggs1 anyhow40 8,the ,egg that ,hen ,belonged to0 ,i got some new-laid eggs a few ,sundays ago4 ,the landlady said they were her own1 and talked about them a good deal4 ,she pointed to one of them and said3 8,now1 would you believe it8 ,the egg that hen belonged to laid #ec hens running and never stopped40 ,she called the egg a hen and the hen an egg4 ,one would have thought she had been reading ,life and ,habit p4 #acd and passim4 ,at ,englefield ,green ,as an example of how anything can be made out of anything or done with anything by those who want to do it 7as ,i said in ,life and ,habit that a bullock can take an eyelash out of its eye with its hind-foot--which ,i saw one of my bullocks in ,new ,zealand do71 at the ,barley ,mow1 ,englefield ,green1 they have a picture of a horse and dog talking to one another1 made entirely of butterflies' wings1 and very well and spiritedly done too4 ,they have another picture1 done in the same way1 of a greyhound running after a hare1 also good but not so good4 ,at ,abbey ,wood ,i heard a man say to another3 8,i went to live there just about the time that beer came down from #e;d4 to #d;d4 a pot4 ,that will give you an idea when it was40 ,at ,ightham ,mote ,we took ,ightham on one of our ,sunday walks about a fortnight ago1 and ,jones and ,i wanted to go inside over the house4 ,my cousin said1 8,you'd much better not1 it will only unsettle your history40 ,we felt1 however1 that we had so little history to unsettle that we left him outside and went in4 ,dr4 ,mandell ,creighton and ,mr4 ,w4 ,s4 ,rockstro 8,the ,bishop had been reading ,mr4 ,samuel ,butler's enchanting book ,alps and ,sanctuaries and determined to visit some of the places there described4 ,we divided our time between the ,italian lakes and the lower slopes of the ,alps and explored many mountain sanctuaries 4 4 4 ,as a result of this journey the ,bishop got to know ,mr4 ,s4 ,butler4 ,he wrote to tell him the pleasure his books had given us and asked him to visit us4 ,after this he came frequently and the ,bishop was much attracted by his original mind and stores of out-of-the-way knowledge40 7,the ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,mandell ,creighton by his ,wife1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #hc47 ,the first time that ,dr4 ,creighton asked me to come down to ,peterborough in #ahid before he became ,bishop of ,london1 ,i was a little doubtful whether to go or not4 ,as usual1 ,i consulted my good clerk1 ,alfred1 who said3 8,let me have a look at his letter1 sir40 ,i gave him the letter1 and he said3 8,i see1 sir1 there is a crumb of tobacco in it2 ,i think you may go40 ,i went and enjoyed myself very much4 ,i should like to add that there are very few men who have ever impressed me so profoundly and so favourably as ,dr4 ,creighton4 ,i have often seen him since1 both at ,peterborough and at ,fulham1 and like and admire him most cordially4 #bea ,i paid my first visit to ,peterborough at a time when that learned musician and incomparable teacher1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,s4 ,rockstro1 was giving me lessons in medieval counterpoint2 so ,i particularly noticed the music at divine service4 ,the hymns were very silly1 and of the usual ,gounod-,barnby character4 ,their numbers were posted up in a frame and ,i saw there were to be five1 so ,i called the first ,farringdon ,street1 the second ,king's ,cross1 the third ,gower ,street1 the fourth ,portland ,road1 and the fifth ,baker ,street1 those being stations on my way to ,rickmansworth1 where ,i frequently go for a walk in the country4 ,in his private chapel at night the bishop began his verse of the psalms always well before we had done the response to the preceding verse4 ,it reminded me of what ,rockstro had said a few weeks earlier to the effect that a point of imitation was always more effective if introduced before the other voices had finished4 ,i told ,rockstro about it and said that the bishop's instinct had guided him correctly--certainly ,i found his method more satisfactory than if he had waited till we had finished4 ,rockstro smiled1 and knowing that ,i was at the time forbidden to work1 said3 8,satan finds some mischief still for idle brains to do40 ,talking of ,rockstro1 he scolded me once and said he wondered how ,i could have done such a thing as to call ,handel 8one of the greatest of all musicians10 referring to the great chords in ,erewhon4 ,i said that if he would look again at the passage he would find ,i had said not that ,handel was 8one of the greatest0 but that he was 8the greatest of all musicians10 on which he apologised4 ,pigs ,we often walk from ,rickmansworth across ,moor ,park to ,pinner4 ,on getting out of ,moor ,park there is a public-house just to the left where we generally have some shandy-gaff and buy some eggs4 ,the landlord had a noble sow which ,i photographed for him2 some months afterwards ,i asked how the sow was4 ,she had been sold4 ,the landlord knew she ought to be killed and made into bacon1 but he had been intimate with her for three years and some one else must eat her1 not he4 8,and what10 said ,i1 8became of her daughter80 8,oh1 we killed her and ate her4 ,you see we had only known her eighteen months40 ,i wonder how he settled the exact line beyond which intimacy with a pig must not go if the pig is to be eaten4 ,mozart ,an old ,scotchman at ,boulogne was holding forth on the beauties of ,mozart1 which he exemplified by singing thus3 ,picture3 ,music score3,dehvieni alla fenestra ,i maliciously assented1 but said it was strange how strongly that air always reminded me of 8,voi che sapete40 ,divorce ,there was a man in the hotel at ,harwich with an ugly disagreeable woman who ,i supposed was his wife4 ,i did not care about him1 but he began to make up to me in the smoking-room4 8,this divorce case10 said he1 referring to one that was being reported in the papers1 8doesn't seem to move very fast40 ,i put on my sweetest smile and said3 8,i have not observed it4 ,i am not married myself1 and naturally take less interest in divorce40 ,he dropped me4 ,ravens ,mr4 ,latham1 the ,master of ,jones's ,college1 ,trinity ,hall1 ,cambridge1 has two ravens named ,agrippa and ,agrippina4 ,mr4 ,latham throws ,agrippa a piece of cheese2 ,agrippa takes it1 hides it carefully and then goes away contented2 but ,agrippina has had her eye upon him and immediately goes and steals it1 hiding it somewhere else2 ,agrippa1 however1 has always one eye upon ,agrippina and no sooner is her back turned than he steals it and buries it anew2 then it becomes ,agrippina's turn1 and thus they pass the time1 making believe that they want the cheese though neither of them really wants it4 ,one day ,agrippa had a small fight with a spaniel and got rather the worst of it4 ,he immediately flew at ,agrippina and gave her a beating4 ,jones said he could almost hear him say1 8,it's all your fault40 ,calais to ,dover ,when ,i got on board the steamer at ,calais ,i saw ,lewis ,day1 who writes books about decoration1 and began to talk with him4 ,also ,i saw ,a4 ,b41 ,editor of the ,x4,y4,z4 ,review4 ,i met him some years ago at ,phipson ,beale's1 but we do not speak4 ,recently ,i wanted him to let me write an article in his review and he would not1 so ,i was spiteful and1 when ,i saw him come on board1 said to ,day3 8,i see we are to have the ,editor of the ,x4,y4,z4 on board40 8,yes10 said ,day4 8,he's an owl10 said ,i sententiously4 8,i wonder10 said ,day1 8how he got the editorship of his review80 8,oh10 said ,i1 8,i suppose he married some one40 ,on this the conversation dropped1 and we parted4 ,later on we met again and ,day said3 8,do you know who that lady was--the one standing at your elbow when we were talking just now80 8,no10 said ,i4 8,that10 he replied1 8was ,mrs4 ,a4 ,b40 ,and it was so4 ,snapshotting a ,bishop ,i must some day write about how ,i hunted the late ,bishop of ,carlisle with my camera1 hoping to shoot him when he was sea-sick crossing from ,calais to ,dover1 and how ,st4 ,somebody protected him and said ,i might shoot him when he was well1 but not when he was sea-sick4 ,i should like to do it in the manner of the ,odyssey3 4 4 4 ,and the steward went round and laid them all on the sofas and benches and he set a beautiful basin by each1 variegated and adorned with flowers1 but it contained no water for washing the hands1 and ,neptune sent great waves that washed over the eyelet-holes of the cabin4 ,but when it was now the middle of the passage and a great roaring arose as of beasts in the ,zoological ,gardens1 and they promised hecatombs to ,neptune if he would still the raging of the waves 4 4 4 ,at any rate ,i shot him and have him in my snap-shot book1 but he was not sea-sick4 #ahib4 ,homer and the ,basins ,when ,i returned from ,calais last ,december1 after spending ,christmas at ,boulogne according to my custom1 the sea was rough as ,i crossed to ,dover and1 having a cold upon me1 ,i went down into the second-class cabin1 cleared the railway books off one of the tables1 spread out my papers and continued my translation1 or rather analysis1 of the ,iliad4 ,several people of all ages and sexes were on the sofas and they soon began to be sea-sick4 ,there was no steward1 so ,i got them each a basin and placed it for them as well as ,i could2 then ,i sat down again at my table in the middle and went on with my translation while they were sick all round me4 ,i had to get the ,iliad well into my head before ,i began my lecture on ,the ,humour of ,homer and ,i could not afford to throw away a couple of hours1 but ,i doubt whether ,homer was ever before translated under such circumstances4 #ahib4 ,the ,channel ,passage ,how holy people look when they are sea-sick6 ,there was a patient ,parsee near me who seemed purified once and for ever from all taint of the flesh4 ,buddha was a low1 worldly minded1 music-hall comic singer in comparison4 ,he sat like this for a long time until 4 4 4 and he made a noise like cows coming home to be milked on an ,april evening4 ,the ,two ,barristers at ,ypres ,when ,gogin and ,i were taking our ,easter holiday this year we went1 among other places1 to ,ypres4 ,we put up at the ,htel ,tte d',or and found it exquisitely clean1 comfortable and cheap1 with a charming old-world1 last-century feeling4 ,it was ,good ,friday1 and we were to dine maigre2 this was so clearly de rigueur that we did not venture even the feeblest protest4 ,when we came down to dinner we were told that there were two other gentlemen1 also ,english1 who were to dine with us1 and in due course they appeared--the one a man verging towards fifty-eight1 a kind of cross between ,cardinal ,manning and the late ,mr4 ,john ,parry1 the other some ten years younger1 amiable-looking and1 ,i should say1 not so shining a light in his own sphere as his companion4 ,these two sat on one side of the table and we opposite them4 ,there was an air about them both which said3 8,you are not to try to get into conversation with us2 we shall not let you if you do2 we dare say you are very good sort of people1 but we have nothing in common2 so long as you keep quiet we will not hurt you2 but if you so much as ask us to pass the melted butter we will shoot you40 ,we saw this and so1 during the first two courses1 talked sotto voce to one another1 and made no attempt to open up communications4 ,with the third course1 however1 there was a new arrival in the person of a portly gentleman of about fifty-five1 or from that to sixty1 who was told to sit at the head of the table1 and accordingly did so4 ,this gentleman had a decided manner and carried quite as many guns as the two barristers 7for barristers they were7 who sat opposite to us4 ,he had rather a red nose1 he dined maigre because he had to1 but he did not like it4 ,i do not think he dined maigre often4 ,he had something of the air of a half1 if not wholly1 broken-down blackguard of a gambler who had seen much but had moved in good society and been accustomed to have things more or less his own way4 ,this gentleman1 who before he went gave us his card1 immediately opened up conversation both with us and with our neighbours1 addressing his remarks alternately and impartially to each4 ,he said he was an ,italian who had the profoundest admiration for ,england4 ,i said at once-- 8,lei non pu amare l',inghilterra pi che io amo ed ammiro l',italia40 ,the ,manning-,parry barrister looked up with an air of slightly offended surprise4 ,conversation was from this point carried on between both parties through the ,italian who acted1 as ,gogin said afterwards1 like one of those stones in times of plague on which people from the country put their butter and eggs and people from the town their money4 ,by and by dealings became more direct between us and at last1 ,i know not how1 ,i found myself in full discussion with the elder barrister as to whether ,jean ,van ,eyck's picture in the ,national ,gallery commonly called 8,portrait of ,john ,arnolfini and his ,wife0 should not properly be held to be a portrait of ,van ,eyck himself 7which1 by the way1 ,i suppose there is no doubt that it should not1 though ,i have never gone into the evidence for the present inscription74 ,then they spoke of the tricks of light practised by ,de ,hooghe2 so we rebelled1 and said ,de ,hooghe had no tricks--no one less--and that what they called trick was only observation and direct rendering of nature4 ,then they applauded ,tintoretto1 and so did we1 but still as men who were bowing the knee to ,baal4 ,we put in a word for ,gaudenzio ,ferrari1 but they had never heard of him4 ,then they played ,raffaelle as a safe card and we said he was a master of line and a facile decorator1 but nothing more4 ,on this all the fat was in the fire1 for they had invested in ,raffaelle as believing him to be the ,three per ,cents of artistic securities4 ,did ,i not like the 8,madonna di ,s4 ,sisto08 ,i said1 8,no40 ,i said the large photo looked well at a distance because the work was so concealed under a dark and sloppy glaze that any one might see into it pretty much what one chose to bring1 while the small photo looked well because it had gained so greatly by reduction4 ,i said the ,child was all very well as a child but a failure as a ,christ1 as all infant ,christs must be to the end of time4 ,i said the ,pope and female saint1 whoever she was1 were commonplace1 as also the angels at the bottom4 ,i admitted the beauty of line in the ,virgin's drapery and also that the work was an effective piece of decoration1 but ,i said it was not inspired by devotional or serious feeling of any kind and for impressiveness could not hold its own with even a very average ,madonna by ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,they appealed to the ,italian1 but he said there was a great reaction against ,raffaelle in ,italy now and that few of the younger men thought of him as their fathers had done4 ,gogin1 of course1 backed me up1 so they were in a minority4 ,it was not at all what they expected or were accustomed to4 ,i yielded wherever ,i could and never differed without giving a reason which they could understand4 ,they must have seen that there was no malice prepense1 but it always came round to this in the end that we did not agree with them4 ,then they played ,leonardo ,da ,vinci4 ,i had not intended saying how cordially ,i dislike him1 but presently they became enthusiastic about the head of the ,virgin in the 8,vierge aux ,rochers0 in our ,gallery4 ,i said ,leonardo had not succeeded with this head2 he had succeeded with the angel's head lower down to the right 7,i think7 of the picture1 but had failed with the ,madonna4 ,they did not like my talking about ,leonardo ,da ,vinci as now succeeding and now failing1 just like other people4 ,i said it was perhaps fortunate that we knew the 8,last ,supper0 only by engravings and might fancy the original to have been more full of individuality than the engravings are1 and ,i greatly questioned whether ,i should have liked the work if ,i had seen it as it was when ,leonardo left it4 ,as for his caricatures he should not have done them1 much less preserved them2 the fact of his having set store by them was enough to show that there was a screw loose about him somewhere and that he had no sense of humour4 ,still1 ,i admitted that ,i liked him better than ,i did ,michael ,angelo4 ,whatever we touched upon the same fatality attended us4 ,fortunately neither evolution nor politics came under discussion1 nor yet1 happily1 music1 or they would have praised ,beethoven and very likely ,mendelssohn too4 ,they did begin to run ,nuremberg and it was on the tip of my tongue to say1 8,yes1 but there's the flavour of ,faust and ,goethe02 however1 ,i did not4 ,in course of time the sance ended1 though not till nearly ten o'clock1 and we all went to bed4 ,next morning we saw them at breakfast and they were quite tame4 ,as ,gogin said afterwards3 8,they came and sat on our fingers and ate crumbs out of our hands40 #ahhg4 ,at ,montreuil-sur-,mer ,jones and ,i lunched at the ,htel de ,france where we found everything very good4 ,as we were going out1 the landlady1 getting on towards eighty1 with a bookish nose1 pale blue eyes and a ,giovanni ,bellini's ,loredano ,loredani kind of expression1 came up to us and said1 in sweetly apologetic accents3-- 8,avez-vous donc djeun peu prs selon vos ides1 ,messieurs80 ,it would have been too much for her to suppose that she had been able to give us a repast that had fully realised our ideals1 still she hoped that these had been1 at any rate1 adumbrated in the luncheon she had provided4 ,dear old thing3 of course they had and a great deal more than adumbrated4 #bf ,december1 #aija4 ,,xvii ,material for a ,projected ,sequel to ,alps and ,sanctuaries ,mrs4 ,dowe on ,alps and ,sanctuaries ,,after reading ,alps and ,sanctuaries ,mrs4 ,dowe said to ,ballard3 8,you seem to hear him talking to you all the time you are reading40 ,i don't think ,i ever heard a criticism of my books which pleased me better1 especially as ,mrs4 ,dowe is one of the women ,i have always liked4 ,not to be ,omitted ,i must get in about the people one meets4 ,the man who did not like parrots because they were too intelligent4 ,and the man who told me that ,handel's ,messiah was 8trs chic10 and the smell of the cyclamens 8stupendous40 ,and the man who said it was hard to think the world was not more than #fjjj years old1 and we encouraged him by telling him we thought it must be even more than #gjjj4 ,and the ,english lady who said of some one that 8being an artist1 you know1 of course he had a great deal of poetical feeling40 ,and the man who was sketching and said he had a very good eye for colour in the light1 but would ,i be good enough to tell him what colour was best for the shadows4 8,an amateur10 he said1 8might do very decent things in water-colour1 but oils require genius40 ,so ,i said3 8,what is genius80 8,millet's picture of the ,angelus sold for #gjj1jjj francs4 ,now that10 he said1 8is genius40 ,after which ,i was very civil to him4 ,at ,bellinzona a man told me that one of the two towers was built by the ,visconti and the other by ,julius ,csar1 a hundred years earlier4 ,so1 poor old ,mrs4 ,barratt at ,langar could conceive no longer time than a hundred years4 ,the ,trojan war did not last ten years1 but ten years was as big a lie as ,homer knew4 ,we went over the ,albula ,pass to ,st4 ,moritz in two diligences and could not settle which was tonic and which was dominant2 but the carriage behind us was the relative minor4 ,there was a picture in the dining-room but we could not get near enough to see it2 we thought it must be either ,christ disputing with the ,doctors or ,louis ,,xvi saying farewell to his family--or something of that sort4 ,the ,sacro ,monte at ,varese ,the ,sacro ,monte is a kind of ecclesiastical ,rosherville ,gardens1 eminently the place to spend a happy day4 ,the processions were best at the last part of the ascent2 there were pilgrims1 all decked out with coloured feathers1 and priests and banners and music and crimson and gold and white and glittering brass against the cloudless blue sky4 ,the old priest sat at his open window to receive the offerings of the devout as they passed1 but he did not seem to get more than a few bambini modelled in wax4 ,perhaps he was used to it4 ,and the band played the barocco music on the barocco little piazza and we were all barocco together4 ,it was as though the clergymen at ,ladywell had given out that1 instead of having service as usual1 the congregation would go in procession to the ,crystal ,palace with all their traps1 and that the band had been practising 8,wait till the clouds roll by0 for some time1 and on ,sunday1 as a great treat1 they should have it4 ,the ,pope has issued an order saying he will not have masses written like operas4 ,it is no use4 ,the ,pope can do much1 but he will not be able to get contrapuntal music into ,varese4 ,he will not be able to get anything more solemn than ,la ,fille de ,madame ,angot into ,varese4 ,as for fugues--6 ,i would as soon take an ,english bishop to the ,surrey pantomime as to the ,sacro ,monte on a festa4 ,then the pilgrims went into the shadow of a great rock behind the sanctuary1 spread themselves out over the grass and dined4 ,the ,albergo ,grotta ,crimea ,the entrance to this hotel at ,chiavenna is through a covered court-yard2 steps lead up to the roof of the court-yard1 which is a terrace where one dines in fine weather4 ,a great tree grows in the court-yard below1 its trunk pierces the floor of the terrace1 and its branches shade the open-air dining-room4 ,the walls of the house are painted in fresco1 with a check pattern like the late ,lord ,brougham's trousers1 and there are also pictures4 ,one represents ,mendelssohn4 ,he is not called ,mendelssohn1 but ,i knew him by his legs4 ,he is in the costume of a dandy of some five-and-forty years ago1 is smoking a cigar and appears to be making an offer of marriage to his cook4 #bfa ,down below is a fresco of a man sitting on a barrel with a glass in his hand4 ,a more absolutely worldly minded1 uncultured individual it would be impossible to conceive4 ,when ,i saw these frescoes ,i knew ,i should get along all right and not be over-charged4 ,public ,opinion ,the public buys its opinions as it buys its meat1 or takes in its milk1 on the principle that it is cheaper to do this than to keep a cow4 ,so it is1 but the milk is more likely to be watered4 ,these ,notes ,i make them under the impression that ,i may use them in my books1 but ,i never do unless ,i happen to remember them at the right time4 ,when ,i wrote 8,ramblings in ,cheapside0 in the ,universal ,review1 reprinted in ,essays on ,life1 ,art and ,science the preceding note about ,public ,opinion would have come in admirably2 it was in my pocket1 in my little black note-book1 but ,i forgot all about it till ,i came to post my pocket-book into my note-book4 ,the ,wife of ,bath ,there are ,canterbury ,pilgrims every ,sunday in summer who start from close to the old ,tabard1 only they go by the ,south-,eastern ,railway and come back the same day for five shillings4 ,and1 what is more1 they are just the same sort of people4 ,if they do not go to ,canterbury they go by the ,clacton ,belle to ,clacton-on-,sea4 ,there is not a ,sunday the whole summer through but you may find all ,chaucer's pilgrims1 man and woman for man and woman1 on board the ,lord of the ,isles or the ,clacton ,belle4 ,why1 ,i have seen the ,wife of ,bath on the ,lord of the ,isles myself4 ,she was eating her luncheon off an ,ally ,sloper's ,half-,holiday1 which was spread out upon her knees4 ,whether it was ,i who had had too much beer or she ,i cannot tell1 ,god knoweth2 and whether or no ,i was caught up into ,paradise1 again ,i cannot tell2 but ,i certainly did hear unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter1 and that not above fourteen years ago but the very last ,sunday that ever was4 ,the ,wife of ,bath heard them too1 but she never turned a hair4 ,luckily ,i had my detective camera with me1 so ,i snapped her there and then4 ,she put her hand up to her mouth at that very moment and rather spoiled herself1 but not much4 #ahia4 ,horace at the ,post-,office in ,rome ,when ,i was in ,rome last summer whom should ,i meet but ,horace4 ,i did not know him at first1 and told him enquiringly that the post-office was in the ,piazza ,venezia8 ,he smiled benignly1 shrugged his shoulders1 said 8,prego0 and pointed to the post-office itself1 which was over the way and1 of course1 in the ,piazza ,s4 ,silvestro4 ,then ,i knew him4 ,i believe he went straight home and wrote an epistle to ,mecnas1 or whatever the man's name was1 asking how it comes about that people who travel hundreds of miles to see things can never see what is all the time under their noses4 ,in fact1 ,i saw him take out his note-book and begin making notes at once4 ,he need not talk4 ,he was not a good man of business and ,i do not believe his books sold much better than my own4 ,but this does not matter to him now1 for he has not the faintest idea that he ever wrote any of them and1 more likely than not1 has never even refreshed his memory by reading them4 ,beethoven at ,faido and at ,boulogne ,i have twice seen people so unmistakably like ,beethoven 7just as ,madame ,patey is unmistakably like ,handel and only wants dressing in costume to be the image of him not in features only but in figure and air and manner7 that ,i always think of them as ,beethoven4 ,once1 at ,faido in the ,val ,leventina1 in #ahgf or #ahgg1 when the engineers were there surveying for the tunnel1 there was among them a rather fine-looking young ,german with wild1 ginger hair that rang out to the wild sky like the bells in ,in ,memoriam1 and a strong ,edmund ,gurney cut1 #bfc who played ,wagner and was great upon the overture to ,lohengrin2 as for ,handel--he was not worth consideration1 etc4 ,well1 this young man rather took a fancy to me and ,i did not dislike him1 but one day1 to tease him1 ,i told him that a little insignificant-looking engineer1 the most commonplace mortal imaginable1 who was sitting at the head of the table1 was like ,beethoven4 ,he was very like him indeed1 and ,mller saw it1 smiled and flushed at the same time4 ,he was short1 getting on in years and was a little thick1 though not fat4 ,a few days afterwards he went away and ,mller and ,i happened to meet his box--an enormous cube of a trunk--coming down the stairs4 8,that's ,beethoven's box10 said ,mller to me4 8,oh10 ,i said1 and1 looking at it curiously for a moment1 asked gravely1 8,and is he inside it80 ,it seemed to fit him and to correspond so perfectly with him in every way that one felt as though if he were not inside it he ought to be4 ,the second time was at ,boulogne this spring4 ,there were three ,germans at the ,htel de ,paris who sat together1 went in and out together1 smoked together and did everything as though they were a unity in trinity and a trinity in unity4 ,we settled that they must be the ,heckmann ,quartet1 minus ,heckmann3 we had not the smallest reason for thinking this but we settled it at once4 ,the middle one of these was like ,beethoven also4 ,on ,easter ,sunday1 after dinner1 when he was a little--well1 it was after dinner and his hair went rather mad--,jones said to me3 8,do you see that ,beethoven has got into the posthumous quartet stage80 #ahhe4 ,silvio ,in the autumn of #ahhd1 ,butler spent some time at ,promontogno and ,soglio in the ,val ,bregaglia1 sketching and making notes4 ,among the children of the ,italian families in the albergo was ,silvio1 a boy of ten or twelve4 ,he knew a little ,english and was very fond of poetry4 ,he could repeat1 8,how doth the little buzzy bee40 ,the poem which pleased him best1 however1 was3 ,hey diddle diddle1 ,the ,cat and the ,fiddle1 ,the ,cow jumped over the ,moon4 ,they had nothing1 he said1 in ,italian literature so good as this4 ,silvio used to talk to ,butler while he was sketching4 8,and you shall read ,longfellow much in ,england80 8,no10 ,i replied1 8,i don't think we read him very much40 8,but how is that8 ,he is a very pretty poet40 8,oh yes1 but ,i don't greatly like poetry myself40 8,why don't you like poetry80 8,you see1 poetry resembles metaphysics1 one does not mind one's own1 but one does not like any one else's40 8,oh6 ,and what you call metaphysic80 ,this was too much4 ,it was like the lady who attributed the decline of the ,italian opera to the fact that singers would no longer 8podge0 their voices4 8,and what1 pray1 is #8podging'80 enquired my informant of the lady4 8,why1 don't you understand what #8podging' is8 ,well1 ,i don't know that ,i can exactly tell you1 but ,i am sure ,edith and ,blanche podge beautifully40 ,however1 ,i said that metaphysics were la filosofia and this quieted him4 ,he left poetry and turned to prose4 8,then you shall like much the works of ,washington ,irving80 ,i was grieved to say that ,i did not2 but ,i dislike ,washington ,irving so cordially that ,i determined to chance another 8,no40 8,then you shall like better ,fenimore ,cooper80 ,i was becoming reckless4 ,i could not go on saying 8,no0 after 8,no10 and yet to ask me to be ever so little enthusiastic about ,fenimore ,cooper was laying a burden upon me heavier than ,i could bear1 so ,i said ,i did not like him4 8,oh1 ,i see10 said the boy2 8then it is ,uncle ,tom's ,cabin that you shall like80 ,here ,i gave in4 ,more 8,noes0 ,i could not say1 so1 thinking ,i might as well be hung for a sheep as for a mutton chop1 ,i said that ,i thought ,uncle ,tom's ,cabin one of the most wonderful and beautiful books that ever were written4 ,having got at a writer whom ,i admired1 he was satisfied1 but not for long4 8,and you think very much of the theories of ,darwin in ,england1 do you not80 ,i groaned inwardly and said we did4 8,and what are the theories of ,darwin80 ,imagine what followed6 ,after which3 8,why do you not like poetry8--,you shall have a very good university in ,london80 and so on4 ,sunday ,morning at ,soglio ,the quarantine men sat on the wall1 dangling their legs over the parapet and singing the same old tune over and over again and the same old words over and over again4 8,fu tradito1 fu tradito da una donna40 ,to them it was a holiday4 ,two gnomes came along and looked at me4 ,i asked the first how old it was2 it said fourteen4 ,they both looked about eight4 ,i said that the flies and the fowls ought to be put into quarantine1 and the gnomes grinned and showed their teeth till the corners of their mouths met at the backs of their heads4 ,the skeleton of a bird was nailed up against a barn1 and ,i said to a man3 8,aquila80 ,he replied3 8,aquila10 and ,i passed on4 ,the village boys came round me and sighed while they watched me sketching4 ,and the women came and exclaimed3 8,oh6 che testa1 che testa60 ,and the bells in the windows of the campanile began1 and ,i turned and looked up at their beautiful lolling and watched their fitful tumble-aboutiness4 ,they swung open-mouthed like elephants with uplifted trunks1 and ,i wished ,i could have fed them with buns4 ,they were not like ,english bells1 and yet they rang more all ',inglese than bells mostly do in ,italy--they had got it1 but they had not got it right4 ,there used to be two crows1 and when one disappeared the other came to the house where it had not been for a month4 ,while ,i was sketching it played with a woman who was weeding2 it got on her back and tried to bite her hat2 then it got down and pecked at the nails in her boots and tried to steal them4 ,it let her catch it1 and then made a little fuss1 but it did not fly away when she let it go1 it continued playing with her4 ,then it came to exploit me but would not come close up4 ,signor ,scartazzini says it will play with all the women of the place but not with men or boys1 except with him4 ,then there came a monk and passed by me1 and ,i knew ,i had seen him before but could not think where till1 of a sudden1 it flashed across me that he was ,valoroso ,,xxiv1 ,king of ,paphlagonia1 no doubt expiating his offences4 ,and ,i watched the ants that were busy near my feet1 and listened to them as they talked about me and discussed whether man has instinct4 8,what is he doing here80 they said2 8he wasn't here yesterday4 ,certainly they have no instinct4 ,they may have a low kind of reason1 but nothing approaching to instinct4 ,some of the ,london houses show signs of instinct--,gower ,street1 for example1 does really seem to suggest instinct2 but it is all delusive4 ,it is curious that these cities of theirs should always exist in places where there are no ants4 ,they certainly anthropomorphise too freely4 ,or is it perhaps that we formicomorphise more than we should80 ,and ,silvio came by on his way to church4 ,it was he who taught all the boys in ,soglio to make a noise4 ,before he came up there was no sound to be heard in the streets1 except the fountains and the bells4 ,i asked him whether the curate was good to him4 8,si10 he replied1 8 abbastanza buono40 ,i should think ,auld ,robin ,gray was 8abbastanza buono0 to ,mrs4 ,gray4 ,one of the little girls told me that ,silvio had so many centesimi and she had none4 ,i said at once3 8,you don't want any centesimi40 ,as soon as these words fell from my lips1 ,i knew ,i must be getting old4 ,and presently the ,devil came up to me4 ,he was a nice1 clean old man1 but he dropped his h's1 and that was where he spoiled himself--or perhaps it was just this that threw me off my guard1 for ,i had always heard that the ,prince of ,darkness was a perfect gentleman4 ,he whispered to me that in the winter the monks of ,st4 ,bernard sometimes say matins overnight4 ,the blue of the mountains looks bluer through the chestnuts than through the pines4 ,the river is snowy against the 8,verdi prati e selve amene40 ,the great fat tobacco plant agrees with itself if not with us2 ,i never saw any plant look in better health4 ,the briar knows perfectly well what it wants to do and that it does not want to be disturbed2 it knows1 in fact1 all that it cares to know4 ,the question is how and why it got to care to know just these things and no others4 ,two cheeky goats came tumbling down upon me and demanded salt1 and the man came from the saw-mill and1 with his great brown hands1 scooped the mud from the dams of the rills that watered his meadow1 for the hour had come when it was his turn to use the stream4 ,there were cow-bells1 mountain elder-berries and lots of flowers in the grass4 ,there was the glacier1 the roar of the river and a plaintive little chapel on a green knoll under the great cliff of ice which cut the sky4 ,there was a fat1 crumby woman making hay4 ,she said3 8,buon giorno40 ,and the 8i o r0 of the 8giorno0 came out like oil and honey4 ,i saw she wanted a gossip4 ,she and her husband tuned their scythes in two-part1 note-against-note counterpoint2 but ,i could hear that it was she who was the canto fermo and he who was the counterpoint4 ,i peered down over the edge of the steep slippery slope which all had to be mown from top to bottom2 if hay grew on the dome of ,st4 ,paul's these dreadful traders would gather it in1 and presently the autumn crocuses would begin to push up their delicate1 naked snouts through the closely shaven surface4 ,i expressed my wonder4 8,siamo esatti10 said the fat1 crumby woman4 ,for what little things will not people risk their lives8 ,so ,smith and ,i crossed the ,rangitata4 ,so ,esau sold his birthright4 ,it was noon1 and ,i was so sheer above the floor of the valley and the sun was so sheer above me that the chestnuts in the meadow of ,bondo squatted upon their own shadows and the gardens were as though the valley had been paved with bricks of various colours4 ,the old grass-grown road ran below1 nearer the river1 where many a good man had gone up and down on his journey to that larger road where the reader and the writer shall alike join him4 ,fascination ,i know a man1 and one whom people generally call a very clever one1 who1 when his eye catches mine1 if ,i meet him at an at home or an evening party1 beams upon me from afar with the expression of an intellectual rattlesnake on having espied an intellectual rabbit4 ,through any crowd that man will come sidling towards me1 ruthless and irresistible as fate2 while ,i1 foreknowing my doom1 sidle also him-wards1 and flatter myself that no sign of my inward apprehension has escaped me4 ,supreme ,occasions ,men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions4 ,i knew of an old gentleman who insisted on having the original polka played to him as he lay upon his death-bed4 ,in the only well-authenticated words ,i have ever met with as spoken by a man who knew he was going to be murdered1 there is a commonness which may almost be called ,shakespearean4 ,there had been many murders on or near some gold-fields in ,new ,zealand about the years #ahfc or #ahfd1 ,i forget where but ,i think near the ,nelson gold-fields1 and at last the murderers were taken4 ,one was allowed to turn ,queen's evidence and gave an account of the circumstances of each murder4 ,one of the victims1 it appeared1 on being told they were about to kill him1 said3 8,if you murder me1 ,i shall be foully murdered40 ,whereupon they murdered him and he was foully murdered4 ,it is a mistake to expect people to rise to the occasion unless the occasion is only a little above their ordinary limit4 ,people seldom rise to their greater occasions1 they almost always fall to them4 ,it is only supreme men who are supreme at supreme moments4 ,they differ from the rest of us in this that1 when the moment for rising comes1 they rise at once and instinctively4 ,the ,aurora ,borealis ,i saw one once in the ,gulf of the ,st4 ,lawrence off the island of ,anticosti4 ,we were in the middle of it1 and seemed to be looking up through a great cone of light millions and millions of miles into the sky4 ,then we saw it farther off and the pillars of fire stalked up and down the face of heaven like one of ,handel's great basses4 ,in front of my room at ,montreal there was a verandah from which a rope was stretched across a small yard to a chimney on a stable roof over the way4 ,clothes were hung to dry on this rope4 ,as ,i lay in bed of a morning ,i could see the shadows and reflected lights from these clothes moving on the ceiling as the clothes were blown about by the wind4 ,the movement of these shadows and reflected lights was exactly that of the rays of an ,aurora ,borealis1 minus colour4 ,i can conceive no resemblance more perfect4 ,they stalked across the ceiling with the same kind of movement absolutely4 ,a ,tragic ,expression ,the three occasions when ,i have seen a really tragic expression upon a face were as follows3-- 7#a7 ,when ,mrs4 ,inglis in my room at ,montreal heard my sausages frying1 as she thought1 too furiously in the kitchen1 she left me hurriedly with a glance1 and the folds of her dress as she swept out of the room were ,niobean4 7#b7 ,once at dinner ,i sat opposite a certain lady who had a tureen of soup before her and also a plate of the same to which she had just helped herself4 ,there was meat in the soup and ,i suppose she got a bit she did not like2 instead of leaving it1 she swiftly1 stealthily1 picked it up from her plate when she thought no one was looking and1 with an expression which ,mrs4 ,siddons might have studied for a performance of ,clytemnestra1 popped it back into the tureen4 7#c7 ,there was an alarm of fire on an emigrant ship in mid-ocean when ,i was going to ,new ,zealand and the women rushed aft with faces as in a ,massacre of the ,innocents4 ,the ,wrath to ,come ,on the ,monte ,generoso a lady who sat next me at the table-d'hte was complaining of a man in the hotel4 ,she said he was a nuisance because he practised on the violin4 ,i excused him by saying that ,i supposed some one had warned him to fly from the wrath to come1 meaning that he had conceptions of an ideal world and was trying to get into it4 7,i heard a man say something like this many years ago and it stuck by me47 ,the ,beauties of ,nature ,a man told me that at some ,swiss hotel he had been speaking enthusiastically about the beauty of the scenery to a ,frenchman who said to him3 8,aimez-vous donc les beauts de la nature8 ,pour moi je les abborre40 ,the ,late ,king ,vittorio ,emanuele ,cavaliere ,negri1 at ,casale-,monferrato1 told me not long since that when he was a child1 during the troubles of #ahdh and #ahdi1 the ,king was lunching with his 7,cav4 ,negri's7 father who had provided the best possible luncheon in honour of his guest4 ,the ,king said3 8,i can eat no such luncheon in times like these--give me some garlic40 ,the garlic being brought1 he ate it along with a great hunch of bread1 but would touch nothing else4 ,the ,bishop of ,chichester at ,faido ,when ,i was at ,faido in the ,val ,leventina last summer there was a lady there who remembered me in ,new ,zealand2 she had brought her children to ,switzerland for their holiday2 good people1 all of them4 ,they had friends coming to them1 a certain canon and his sister1 and there was a talk that the ,bishop of ,chichester might possibly come too4 ,in course of time the canon and his sister came4 ,at first the sister1 who was put to sit next me at dinner1 was below zero and her brother opposite was hardly less freezing2 but as dinner wore on they thawed and1 from regarding me as the monster which in the first instance they clearly did1 began to see that ,i agreed with them in much more than they had thought possible4 ,by and by they were reassured1 became cordial and proved on acquaintance to be most kind and good4 ,they soon saw that ,i liked them1 and the canon let me take him where ,i chose4 ,i took him to the place where the ,woodsias grow and we found some splendid specimens4 ,i took him to ,mairengo and showed him the double chancel4 ,coming back he said ,i had promised to show him some ,alternifolium4 ,i stopped him and said3 8,here is some10 for there happened to be a bit in the wall by the side of the path4 ,this quite finished the conquest1 and before long ,i was given to understand that the bishop really would come and we were to take him pretty near the ,woodsias and not tell him1 and he was to find them out for himself4 ,i have no doubt that the bishop had meant coming with the canon1 but then the canon had heard from the ,new ,zealand lady that ,i was there1 and this would not do at all for the bishop4 ,anyhow the canon had better exploit me by going first and seeing how bad ,i was4 ,so the canon came1 said ,i was all right and in a couple of days or so the bishop and his daughters arrived4 ,the bishop did not speak to me at dinner1 but after dinner1 in the salon1 he made an advance in the matter of the newspaper and1 ,i replying1 he began a conversation which lasted the best part of an hour1 and during which ,i trust ,i behaved discreetly4 ,then ,i bade him 8,good-night0 and left the room4 ,next morning ,i saw him eating his breakfast and said 8,good-morning0 to him4 ,he was quite ready to talk4 ,we discussed the ,woodsia ,ilvensis and agreed that it was a mythical species4 ,it was said in botany books to grow near ,guildford4 ,we dismissed this assertion4 ,but he remarked that it was extraordinary in what odd places we sometimes do find plants2 he knew a single plant of ,asplenium ,trichomanes which had no other within thirty miles of it2 it was growing on a tombstone which had come from a long distance and from a ,trichomanes country4 ,it almost seemed as if the seeds and germs were always going about in the air and grew wherever they found a suitable environment4 ,i said it was the same with our thoughts2 the germs of all manner of thoughts and ideas are always floating about unperceived in our minds and it was astonishing sometimes in what strange places they found the soil which enabled them to take root and grow into perceived thought and action4 ,the bishop looked up from his egg and said3 8,that is a very striking remark10 and then he went on with his egg as though if ,i were going to talk like that he should not play any more4 ,thinking ,i was not likely to do better than this1 ,i retreated immediately and went away down to ,claro where there was a confirmation and so on to ,bellinzona4 ,in the morning ,i had asked the waitress how she liked the bishop4 8,oh6 beaucoup1 beaucoup10 she exclaimed1 8et je trouve son nez vraiment noble40 #ahhf4 ,at ,piora ,i am confident that ,i have written the following note in one or other of the earlier of these volumes1 but ,i have searched my precious indexes in vain to find it4 ,no doubt as soon as ,i have retold the story ,i shall stumble upon it4 ,one day in the autumn of #ahhf ,i walked up to ,piora from ,airolo1 returning the same day4 ,at ,piora ,i met a very nice quiet man whose name ,i presently discovered1 and who1 ,i have since learned1 is a well-known and most liberal employer of labour somewhere in the north of ,england4 ,he told me that he had been induced to visit ,piora by a book which had made a great impression upon him4 ,he could not recollect its title1 but it had made a great impression upon him2 nor yet could he recollect the author's name1 but the book had made a great impression upon him2 he could not remember even what else there was in the book2 the only thing he knew was that it had made a great impression upon him4 ,this is a good example of what is called a residuary impression4 ,whether or no ,i told him that the book which had made such a great impression upon him was called ,alps and ,sanctuaries 7see ,chap4 ,,vi71 and that it had been written by the person he was addressing1 ,i cannot tell4 ,it would be very like me to have blurted it all out and given him to understand how fortunate he had been in meeting me2 this would be so fatally like me that the chances are ten to one that ,i did it2 but ,i have1 thank ,heaven1 no recollection of sin in this respect1 and have rather a strong impression that1 for once in my life1 ,i smiled to myself and said nothing4 ,at ,ferentino ,after dinner ,i ordered a coffee2 the landlord1 who also had had his dinner1 asked me to be good enough to defer it for another year and ,i assented4 ,i then asked him which was the best inn at ,segni4 ,he replied that it did not matter1 that when a man had quattrini one albergo was as good as another4 ,i said1 ,no2 that more depended on what kind of blood was running about inside the albergatore than on how many quattrini the guest had in his pocket4 ,he smiled and offered me a pinch of the most delicious snuff4 ,his wife came and cleared the table1 having done which she shed the water bottle over the floor to keep the dust down4 ,i am sure she did it all to all the blessed gods that live in heaven1 though she did not say so4 ,the ,imperfect ,lady ,there was one at a country house in ,sicily where ,i was staying4 ,she had been lent to my host for change of air by his friend the marchese4 ,she dined at table with us and we all liked her very much4 ,she was extremely pretty and not less amiable than pretty4 ,in order to reach the dining-room we had to go through her bedroom as also through my host's4 ,when the monsignore came1 she dined with us just the same1 and the old priest evidently did not mind at all4 ,in ,sicily they do not bring the scent of the incense across the dining-room table4 ,and one would hardly expect the attempt to be made by people who use the oath 8,santo ,diavolo40 ,siena and ,s4 ,gimignano ,at ,siena last spring1 prowling round outside the cathedral1 we saw an ,english ecclesiastic in a stringed1 sub-shovel hat4 ,he had a young lady with him1 presumably a daughter or niece4 ,he eyed us with much the same incurious curiosity as that with which we eyed him4 ,we passed them and went inside the duomo4 ,how far less impressive is the interior 7indeed ,i had almost said also the exterior7 than that of ,san ,domenico6 ,nothing palls so soon as over-ornamentation4 ,a few minutes afterwards my ,lord and the young lady came in too4 ,it was ,sunday and mass was being celebrated4 ,the pair passed us and1 when they reached the fringe of the kneeling folk1 the bishop knelt down too on the bare floor1 kneeling bolt upright from the knees1 a few feet in front of where we stood4 ,we saw him and ,i am sure he knew we were looking at him4 ,the lady seemed to hesitate but1 after a minute or so1 she knuckled down by his side and we left them kneeling bolt upright from the knees on the hard floor4 ,i always cross myself and genuflect when ,i go into a ,roman ,catholic church1 as a mark of respect1 but ,jones and ,gogin say that any one can see ,i am not an old hand at it4 ,how rudimentary is the action of an old priest6 ,i saw one once at ,venice in the dining-room of the ,hotel la ,luna who crossed himself by a rapid motion of his fork just before he began to eat1 and ,miss ,bertha ,thomas told me she saw an ,italian lady at ,varallo at the table-d'hte cross herself with her fan4 ,i do not cross myself before eating nor do ,i think it incumbent upon me to kneel down on the hard floor in church--perhaps because ,i am not an ,english bishop4 ,we were sorry for this one and for his young lady1 but it was their own doing4 ,we then went into the ,libreria to see the frescoes by ,pinturicchio--which we did not like--and spent some little time in attending to them4 ,on leaving we were told to sign our names in a book and did so4 ,as we were going out we met the bishop and his lady coming in2 whether they had been kneeling all the time1 or whether they had got up as soon we were gone and had spent the time in looking round ,i cannot say1 but1 when they had seen the frescoes1 they would be told to sign their names and1 when they signed1 they would see ours and1 ,i flatter myself1 know who we were4 ,on returning to our hotel we were able to collect enough information to settle in our own minds which particular bishop he was4 ,a day or two later we went to ,poggibonsi1 which must have been an important place once2 nothing but the walls remain now1 the city within them having been razed by ,charles ,v4 ,at the station we took a carriage1 and our driver1 ,ulisse ,pogni1 was a delightful person1 second baritone at the ,poggibonsi ,opera and principal fly-owner of the town4 ,he drove us up to ,s4 ,gimignano and told us that the people still hold the figures in ,benozzo ,gozzoli's frescoes to be portraits of themselves and say3 8,that's me10 and 8,that's so and so40 ,of course we went to see the frescoes1 and as we were coming down the main street1 from the ,piazza on which the ,municipio stands1 who should be mounting the incline but our bishop and his lady4 ,the moment he saw us1 he looked cross1 stood still and began inspecting the tops of the houses on the other side of the street2 so also did the lady4 ,there was nothing of the smallest interest in these and we neither of us had the smallest doubt that he was embarrassed at meeting us and was pretending not to notice us4 ,i have seldom seen any like attempt more clumsily and fatuously done4 ,whether he was saying to himself1 8,good ,lord6 that wretch will be putting my kneeling down into another ,alps and ,sanctuaries or ,ex ,voto02 or whether it was only that we were a couple of blackguard atheists who contaminated the air all round us1 ,i cannot tell2 but on venturing to look back a second or two after we had passed them1 the bishop and the lady had got a considerable distance away4 ,as we returned our driver took us about #d kilometres outside ,poggibonsi to ,san ,lucchese1 a church of the #abth or #acth century1 greatly decayed1 but still very beautiful and containing a few naf frescoes4 ,he told us he had sung the ,sanctus here at the festa on the preceding ,sunday4 ,in a room adjoining the church1 formerly1 we were told1 a refectory1 there is a very good fresco representing the 8,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes0 by ,gerino da ,pistoja 7,i think1 but one forgets these names at once unless one writes them down then and there74 ,it is dated--,i think 7again67--about #aeji1 betrays the influence of ,perugino but is more lively and interesting than anything ,i know by that painter1 for ,i cannot call him master4 ,it is in good preservation and deserves to be better1 though perhaps not very much better1 known than it is4 ,our driver pointed out that the baskets in which the fishes are being collected are portraits of the baskets still in use in the neighbourhood4 ,after we had returned to ,london we found1 in the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition1 a portrait of our bishop which1 though not good1 was quite good enough to assure us that we had not been mistaken as to his diocese4 ,the ,etruscan ,urns at ,volterra ,as regards the way in which the ,etruscan artists kept to a few stock subjects1 this has been so in all times and countries4 ,when ,christianity convulsed the world and displaced the older mythology1 she did but introduce new subjects of her own1 to which her artists kept as closely as their pagan ancestors had kept to their heathen gods and goddesses4 ,we now make believe to have freed ourselves from these trammels1 but the departure is more apparent than real4 ,our works of art fall into a few well-marked groups and the pictures of each group1 though differing in detail1 present the same general characters4 ,we have1 however1 broken much new ground1 whereas until the last three or four hundred years it almost seems either as if artists had thought subject a detail beneath their notice1 or publics had insisted on being told only what they knew already4 ,the principle of living only to see and to hear some new thing1 and the other principle of avoiding everything with which we are not perfectly familiar are equally old1 equally universal1 equally useful4 ,they are the principles of conservation and accumulation on the one hand1 and of adventure1 speculation and progress on the other1 each equally indispensable4 ,the money has been1 and will probably always be more persistently in the hands of the first of these two groups4 ,but1 after all1 is not money an art8 ,nay1 is it not the most difficult on earth and the parent of all8 ,and if life is short and art long1 is not money still longer8 ,and are not works of art1 for the most part1 more or less works of money also8 ,in so far as a work of art is a work of money1 it must not complain of being bound by the laws of money2 in so far as it is a work of art1 it has nothing to do with money and1 again1 cannot complain4 ,it is a great help to the spectator to know the subject of a picture and not to be bothered with having to find out all about the story4 ,subjects should be such as either tell their own story instantly on the face of them1 or things with which all spectators may be supposed familiar4 ,it must not be forgotten that a work exposed to public view is addressed to a great many people and should accordingly consider many people rather than one4 ,i saw an ,english family not long since looking at a fine collection of the coins of all nations4 ,they hardly pretended even to take a languid interest in the ,french1 ,german1 ,dutch and ,italian coins1 but brightened up at once on being shown a shilling1 a florin and a half-crown4 ,so children do not want new stories2 they look for old ones4 8,mamma dear1 will you please tell us the story of #8,the ,three ,bears'80 8,no1 my love1 not to-day1 ,i have told it you very often lately and ,i am busy40 8,very well1 ,mamma dear1 then we will tell you the story of #8,the ,three ,bears4'0 ,the ,iliad and the ,odyssey are only 8,the ,three ,bears0 upon a larger scale4 ,just as the life of a man is only the fission of two ambas on a larger scale4 ,cui non dictus ,hylas puer et ,latonia ,delos8 ,that was no argument against telling it again1 but rather for repeating it4 ,so people look out in the newspapers for what they know rather than for what they do not know1 and the better they know it the more interested they are to see it in print and1 as a general rule1 unless they get what they expect--or think they know already--they are angry4 ,this tendency of our nature culminates in the well-known lines repeated for ever and ever3 ,the battle of the ,nile ,i was there all the while2 ,i was there all the while ,at the battle of the ,nile4 ,the battle of 4 4 4 ,and so on ad lib4 ,even this will please very young children4 ,as they grow older they want to hear about nothing but 8,the ,three ,bears40 ,as they mature still further they want the greater invention and freer play of fancy manifested by such people as ,homer and our west-end upholsterers1 beyond which there is no liberty1 but only eccentricity and extravagance4 ,so it is with all fashion4 ,fashions change1 but not radically except after convulsion and1 even then1 the change is more apparent than real1 the older fashions continually coming back as new ones4 ,so it is not only as regards choice of subject but also as regards treatment of subject within the limits of the work itself1 after the subject is chosen4 ,no matter whether the utterance of a man's inner mind is attempted by way of words1 painting1 or music1 the same principle underlies all these three arts and1 of course1 also those arts that are akin to them4 ,in each case a man should have but one subject easily recognisable as the main motive1 and in each case he must develop1 treat and illustrate this by means of episodes and details that are neither so alien to the subject as to appear lugged in by the heels1 nor yet so germane to it as to be identical4 ,the treatment grows out of the subject as the family from the parents and the race from the family--each new-born member being the same and yet not the same with those that have preceded him4 ,so it is with all the arts and all the sciences--they flourish best by the addition of but little new at a time in comparison with the old4 ,and so1 lastly1 it is with the ars artium itself1 that art of arts and science of sciences1 that guild of arts and crafts which is comprised within each one of us1 ,i mean our bodies4 ,in the detail they are nourished from day to day by food which must not be too alien from past food or from the body itself1 nor yet too germane to either2 and in the gross1 that is to say1 in the history of the development of a race or species1 the evolution is admittedly for the most part exceedingly gradual1 by means of many generations1 as it were1 of episodes that are kindred to and yet not identical with the subject4 ,and when we come to think of it1 we find in the evolution of bodily form 7which along with modification involves persistence of type7 the explanation why persistence of type in subjects chosen for treatment in works of art should be so universal4 ,it is because we are so averse to great changes and at the same time so averse to no change at all1 that we have a bodily form1 in the main1 persistent and yet1 at the same time1 capable of modifications4 ,without a strong aversion to change its habits and1 with its habits1 the pabulum of its mind1 there would be no fixity of type in any species and1 indeed1 there would be no life at all1 as we are accustomed to think of life1 for organs would disappear before they could be developed1 and to try to build life on such a shifting foundation would be as hopeless as it would be to try and build a material building on an actual quicksand4 ,hence the habits1 cries1 abodes1 food1 hopes and fears of each species 7and what are these but the realities of which human arts are as the shadow87 tell the same old tales in the same old ways from generation to generation1 and it is only because they do so that they appear to us as species at all4 ,returning now to the ,etruscan cinerary urns--,i have no doubt that1 perhaps three or four thousand years hence1 a collection of the tombstones from some of our suburban cemeteries will be thought exceedingly interesting1 but ,i confess to having found the urns in the ,museum at ,volterra a little monotonous and1 after looking at about three urns1 ,i hurried over the remaining #cig as fast as ,i could4 #ahhi4 ,the ,quick and the ,dead ,the walls of the houses in an ,italian village are built of brick and the roofs are covered with stone4 ,they call the stone 8vivo40 ,it is as though they thought bricks were like veal or mutton and stones like bits out of the living calf or sheep4 #bgi ,the ,grape-,filter ,when the water of a place is bad1 it is safest to drink none that has not been filtered through either the berry of a grape1 or else a tub of malt4 ,these are the most reliable filters yet invented4 ,bertoli and his ,bees ,giacomo ,bertoli of ,varallo-,sesia keeps a watch and clock shop in the street4 ,he is a cheery little old gentleman1 though ,i do not see why ,i should call him old for ,i doubt his being so old as ,i am4 ,he and ,i have been very good friends for years and he is always among the first to welcome me when ,i go to ,varallo4 ,he is one of the most famous bee-masters in ,europe4 ,he keeps some of his bees during the winter at ,camasco not very far from ,varallo1 others in other places near and moves them up to ,alagna1 at the head of the ,val ,sesia1 towards the end of ,may that they may make their honey from the spring flowers--and excellent honey they make4 ,about a fortnight ago ,i happened to meet him bringing down ten of his hives4 ,he was walking in front and was immediately followed by two women each with crates on their backs1 and each carrying five hives4 ,they seemed to me to be ordinary deal boxes1 open at the top1 but covered over with gauze which would keep the bees in but not exclude air4 ,i asked him if the bees minded the journey1 and he replied that they were very angry and had a great deal to say about it2 he was sure to be stung when he let them out4 ,he said it was 8un lavoro improbo10 and cost him a great deal of anxiety4 8,the ,lost ,chord0 ,it should be 8,the ,lost ,progression10 for the young lady was mistaken in supposing she had ever heard any single chord 8like the sound of a great ,amen40 ,unless we are to suppose that she had already found the chord of ,c ,major for the final syllable of the word and was seeking the chord for the first syllable2 and there she is on the walls of a ,milanese restaurant arpeggioing experimental harmonies in a transport of delight to advertise ,somebody and ,someone's pianos and holding the loud pedal solidly down all the time4 ,her family had always been unsympathetic about her music4 ,they said it was like a loose bundle of fire-wood which you never can get across the room without dropping sticks2 they said she would have been so much better employed doing anything else4 ,fancy being in the room with her while she was strumming about and hunting after her chord6 ,fancy being in heaven with her when she had found it6 ,introduction of ,foreign ,plants ,i have brought back this year some mountain auriculas and the seed of some salvia and ,fusio tiger-lily1 and mean to plant the auriculas and to sow the seeds in ,epping ,forest and elsewhere round about ,london4 ,i wish people would more generally bring back the seeds of pleasing foreign plants and introduce them broadcast1 sowing them by our waysides and in our fields1 or in whatever situation is most likely to suit them4 ,it is true1 this would puzzle botanists1 but there is no reason why botanists should not be puzzled4 ,a botanist is a person whose aim is to uproot1 kill and exterminate every plant that is at all remarkable for rarity or any special virtue1 and the rarer it is the more bitterly he will hunt it down4 ,saint ,cosimo and ,saint ,damiano at ,siena ,sano di ,pietro shows us a heartless practical joke played by these two very naughty saints1 both medical men1 who should be uncanonised immediately4 ,it seems they laid their heads together and for some reason1 best known to themselves1 resolved to cut a leg off a dead negro and put it on to a white man4 ,in the one compartment they are seen in high glee cutting the negro's leg off4 ,in the next they have gone to the white man who is in bed1 obviously asleep1 and are substituting the black leg for his own4 ,then1 no doubt1 they will stand behind the door and see what he does when he wakes4 ,they must be saints because they have glories on1 but it looks as though a glory is not much more to be relied on than a gig as a test of respectability4 #ahhi4 ,at ,pienza ,at ,pienza1 after having seen the ,museum with a custode whom ,i photoed as being more like death1 though in excellent health and spirits1 than any one ,i ever saw1 ,i was taken to the leading college for young ladies1 the ,conservatorio di ,s4 ,carlo1 under the direction of ,signora 7or ,signorina1 ,i do not know which7 ,cesira ,carletti1 to see the wonderful ,viale of the twelfth or thirteenth century given to ,pienza by ,pope neas ,sylvius ,piccolomini 7,pius ,,ii7 and stolen a few years since1 but recovered4 ,signora ,carletti was copying parts of it in needlework1 nor can ,i think that the original was ever better than the parts which she had already done4 ,the work would take weeks or even months to examine with any fullness1 and volumes to describe4 ,it is as prodigal of labour1 design and colour as nature herself is4 ,in fact it is one of those things that nature has a right to do but not art4 ,it fatigues one to look at it or think upon it and1 bathos though it be to say so1 it won the first prize at the ,exhibitions of ,ecclesiastical ,art ,work held a few years ago at ,rome and at ,siena4 ,it has taken ,signora ,carletti months to do even the little she has done1 but that little must be seen to be believed1 for no words can do justice to it4 ,having seen the ,viale1 ,i was shown round the whole establishment1 and can imagine nothing better ordered4 ,i was taken over the dormitories--very nice and comfortable--and1 finally1 not without being much abashed1 into the room where the young ladies were engaged upon needlework4 ,it reminded me of nothing so much as of the ,education of the ,virgin ,chapel at ,oropa4 #bhb ,i was taken to each young lady and did my best to acquit myself properly in praising her beautiful work but1 beautiful as the work of one and all was1 it could not compare with that of ,signora ,carletti4 ,i asked her if she could not get some of the young ladies to help her in the less important parts of her work1 but she said she preferred doing it all herself4 ,they all looked well and happy and as though they were well cared for1 as ,i am sure they are4 ,then ,signora ,carletti took me to the top of the house to show me the meteorological room of which she is superintendent1 and which is in connection with the main meteorological observatory at ,rome4 ,again ,i found everything in admirable order1 and left the house not a little pleased and impressed with everything ,i had seen4 #ahhi4 ,homer's ,hot and ,cold ,springs ,the following extract is taken from a memorandum ,butler made of a visit he paid to ,greece and the ,troad in the spring of #ahie4 ,in the ,iliad 7xxii4 #ade7 ,homer mentions hot and cold springs where the ,trojan women used to wash their clothes4 ,there are no such springs near ,hissarlik1 where they ought to be1 but the ,american ,consul at the ,dardanelles told ,butler there was something of the kind on ,mount ,ida1 at the sources of the ,scamander1 and he determined to see them after visiting ,hissarlik4 ,he was provided with an interpreter1 ,yakoub1 an attendant1 ,ahmed1 an escort of one soldier and a horse4 ,he went first to the ,consul's farm at ,thymbra1 about five miles from ,hissarlik1 where he spent the night and found it 8all very like a first-class ,new ,zealand sheep-station40 ,the next day he went to ,hissarlik and saw no reason for disagreeing with the received opinion that it is the site of ,troy4 ,he then proceeded to ,bunarbashi and so to ,bairemitch1 passing on the way a saw-mill where there was a ,government official with twenty soldiers under him4 ,this official was much interested in the traveller and directed his men to take carpets and a dish of trout1 caught that morning in the ,scamander1 and carry them up to the hot and cold springs while he himself accompanied ,butler4 ,so they set off and the official1 ,ismail1 showed him the way and pointed out the springs1 and there is a long note about the hot and cold water4 ,and now let me return to ,ismail ,gusbashi1 the excellent ,turkish official who1 by the way1 was with me during all my examination of the springs1 and whose assurances of their twofold temperature ,i should have found it impossible to doubt1 even though ,i had not caught one warmer cupful myself4 ,his men1 while we were at the springs1 had spread a large ,turkey carpet on the flower-bespangled grass under the trees1 and there were three smaller rugs at three of the corners4 ,on these ,ismail and ,yakoub and ,i took our places4 ,the other two were cross-legged1 but ,i reclining anyhow4 ,the sun shimmered through the spring foliage4 ,i saw two hoopoes and many beautiful birds whose names ,i knew not4 ,through the trees ,i could see the snow-fields of ,ida far above me1 but it was hopeless to think of reaching them4 ,the soldiers and ,ahmed cooked the trout and the eggs all together2 then we had boiled eggs1 bread and cheese and1 of course1 more lamb's liver done on skewers like cats' meat4 ,i ate with my pocket-knife1 the others using their fingers in true ,homeric fashion4 ,when we had put from us 8the desire of meat and drink10 ,ismail began to talk to me4 ,he said he had now for the first time in his life found himself in familiar conversation with ,wisdom from the ,west 7that was me71 and that1 as he greatly doubted whether such another opportunity would be ever vouchsafed to him1 he should wish to consult me upon a matter which had greatly exercised him4 ,he was now fifty years old and had never married4 ,sometimes he thought he had done a wise thing1 and sometimes it seemed to him that he had been very foolish4 ,would ,i kindly tell him which it was and advise him as to the future8 ,i said he was addressing one who was in much the same condition as himself1 only that ,i was some ten years older4 ,we had a saying in ,england that if a man marries he will regret it1 and that if he does not marry he will regret it4 8,ah60 said ,ismail1 who was leaning towards me and trying to catch every word ,i spoke1 though he could not understand a syllable till ,yakoub interpreted my ,italian into ,turkish4 8,ah60 he said1 8that is a true word40 ,in my younger days1 ,i said 7may ,heaven forgive me671 ,i had been passionately in love with a most beautiful young lady1 but--and here my voice faltered1 and ,i looked very sad1 waiting for ,yakoub to interpret what ,i had said--but it had been the will of ,allah that she should marry another gentleman1 and this had broken my heart for many years4 ,after a time1 however1 ,i concluded that these things were all settled for us by a higher ,power4 8,ah6 that is a true word40 8,and so1 my dear sir1 in your case ,i should reflect that if ,allah0 7and ,i raised my hand to ,heaven7 8had desired your being married1 he would have signified his will to you in some way that you could hardly mistake4 ,as he does not appear to have done so1 ,i should recommend you to remain single until you receive some distinct intimation that you are to marry40 8,ah6 that is a true word40 8,besides10 ,i continued1 8suppose you marry a woman with whom you think you are in love and then find out1 after you have been married to her for three months1 that you do not like her4 ,this would be a very painful situation40 8,ah1 yes1 indeed6 that is a true word40 8,and if you had children who were good and dutiful1 it would be delightful2 but suppose they turned out disobedient and ungrateful--and ,i have known many such cases--could anything be more distressing to a parent in his declining years80 8,ah6 that is a true word that you have spoken40 8,we have a great ,imaum10 ,i continued1 8in ,england2 he is called the ,archbishop of ,canterbury and gives answers to people who are in any kind of doubt or difficulty4 ,i knew one gentleman who asked his advice upon the very question that you have done me the honour of propounding to myself40 8,ah6 and what was his answer80 8,he told him10 said ,i1 8that it was cheaper to buy the milk than to keep a cow40 8,ah6 ah6 that is a most true word40 ,here ,i closed the conversation1 and we began packing up to make a start4 ,when we were about to mount1 ,i said to him1 hat in hand3 8,sir1 it occurs to me with great sadness that1 though you will1 no doubt1 often revisit this lovely spot1 yet it is most certain that ,i shall never do so4 ,promise me that when you come here you will sometimes think of the stupid old ,englishman who has had the pleasure of lunching with you to-day1 and ,i promise that ,i will often think of you when ,i am at home again in ,london40 ,he was much touched1 and we started4 ,after we had gone about a mile1 ,i suddenly missed my knife4 ,i knew ,i should want it badly many a time before we got to the ,dardanelles1 and ,i knew perfectly well where ,i should find it3 so ,i stopped the cavalcade and said ,i must ride back for it4 ,i did so1 found it immediately and returned4 ,then ,i said to ,ismail3 8,sir1 ,i understand now why ,i was led to leave my knife behind me4 ,i had said it was certain ,i should never see that enchanting spot again1 but ,i spoke presumptuously1 forgetting that if ,allah0 7and ,i raised my hand to ,heaven7 8willed it ,i should assuredly do so4 ,i am corrected1 and with great leniency40 ,ismail was much affected4 ,the good fellow immediately took off his watch-chain 7happily of brass and of no intrinsic value7 and gave it me1 assuring me that it was given him by a very dear friend1 that he had worn it for many years1 and valued it greatly--would ,i keep it as a memorial of himself8 ,fortunately ,i had with me a little silver match-box which ,alfred had given me and which had my name engraved on it4 ,i gave it to him1 but had some difficulty in making him accept it4 ,then we rode on till we came to the saw-mills4 ,i ordered two lambs for the ten soldiers who had accompanied us1 having understood from ,yakoub that this would be an acceptable present4 ,and so ,i parted from this most kind and friendly gentleman with every warm expression of cordiality on both sides4 ,i sent him his photograph which ,i had taken1 and ,i sent his soldiers their groups also--one for each man--and in due course ,i received the following letter of thanks4 ,alas6 ,i have never written in answer4 ,i knew not how to do it4 ,i knew1 however1 that ,i could not keep up a correspondence1 even though ,i wrote once4 ,but few unanswered letters more often rise up and smite me4 ,how the ,post ,office people ever read 8,bueter1 ,ciforzin ,st40 into 8,butler1 ,clifford's ,inn0 ,i cannot tell4 ,what splendid emendators of a corrupt text they ought to make6 ,but ,i could almost wish that they had failed1 for it has pained me not a little that ,i have not replied4 ,mr4 ,samuel ,bueter1 ,no4 #ae ,ciforzin ,st4 ,london1 ,england4 ,dardanelles1 ,august #d_/ie4 ,mr4 ,samuel4 ,england4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friend1 ,many thanks for the phothograph you have send me4 ,it was very kind of you to think of me to send me this token of your remembrance4 ,i certainly1 appreciate it1 and shall think of you whenever ,i look at it4 ,ah ,my ,dear ,brother1 it is impossible for me to forget you4 under favorable circumstance ,i confess ,i must prefer you4 ,i have a grate desire to have the beautifull chance to meet you4 ,ah then with the tears of gladness to be the result of the great love of our friendness ,a my ,sir what pen can describe the meeting that shall be come with your second visit if it please ,god4 ,it is my pray to ,our ,lord ,god to protect you and to keep you glad and happy for ever4 ,though we are far from each other yet we can speak with letters4 ,thank ,god to have your love of friendness with me and mine with your noble person4 ,hopeing to hear from you1 ,yours truly1 ,,ismayel1 from ,byramich hizar memuerue iuse bashi4 ,,xviii ,material for ,erewhon ,revisited ,,apologise for the names in ,erewhon4 ,i was an unpractised writer and had no idea the names could matter so much4 ,give a map showing the geography of ,erewhon in so far as the entrance into the country goes1 and explain somewhere1 if possible1 about ,butler's stones4 ,up as far as the top of the pass1 where the statues are1 keeps to the actual geography of the upper ,rangitata district except that ,i have doubled the gorge4 ,there was no gorge up above my place ,mesopotamia and ,i wanted one1 so ,i took the gorge some #aj or a dozen miles lower down and repeated it and then came upon my own country again1 but made it bare of grass and useless instead of 7as it actually was7 excellent country4 ,baker and ,i went up the last saddle we tried and thought it was a pass to the ,west ,coast1 but found it looked down on to the headwaters of the ,rakaia3 however we saw a true pass opposite1 just as ,i have described in ,erewhon1 only that there were no clouds and we never went straight down as ,i said ,i did1 but took two days going round by ,lake ,heron4 ,and there is no lake at the top of the true pass4 ,this is the pass over which1 in consequence of our report1 ,whitcombe was sent and got drowned on the other side4 ,we went up to the top of the pass but found it too rough to go down without more help than we had4 ,i rather think ,i have told this in ,a ,first ,year in ,canterbury ,settlement1 but am so much ashamed of that book that ,i dare not look to see4 ,i don't mean to say that the later books are much better2 still they are better4 ,they show a lot of stones on the ,hokitika pass1 so ,mr4 ,slade told me1 which they call mine and say ,i intended them in ,erewhon for the statues4 ,i never saw them and knew nothing about them4 ,refer to the agony and settled melancholy with which unborn children in the womb regard birth as the extinction of their being1 and how some declare that there is a world beyond the womb and others deny this4 8,we must all one day be born10 8,birth is certain0 and so on1 just as we say of death4 ,birth involves with it an original sin4 ,it must be sin1 for the wages of sin is death 7what else1 ,i should like to know1 is the wages of virtue87 and assuredly the wages of birth is death4 ,they consider 8wilful procreation10 as they call it1 much as we do murder and will not allow it to be a moral ailment at all4 ,sometimes a jury will recommend to mercy and sometimes they bring in a verdict of 8justifiable baby-getting10 but they treat these cases as a rule with great severity4 ,every baby has a month of heaven and a month of hell before birth1 so that it may make its choice with its eyes open4 ,the hour of birth should be prayed for in the litany as well as that of death1 and so it would be if we could remember the agony of horror which1 no doubt1 we felt at birth--surpassing1 no doubt1 the utmost agony of apprehension that can be felt on death4 ,let automata increase in variety and ingenuity till at last they present so many of the phenomena of life that the religious world declares they were designed and created by ,god as an independent species4 ,the scientific world1 on the other hand1 denies that there is any design in connection with them1 and holds that if any slight variation happened to arise by which a fortuitous combination of atoms occurred which was more suitable for advertising purposes 7the automata were chiefly used for advertising7 it was seized upon and preserved by natural selection4 ,they have schools where they teach the arts of forgetting and of not seeing4 ,young ladies are taught the art of proposing4 ,lists of successful matches are advertised with the prospectuses of all the girls' schools4 ,they have professors of all the languages of the principal beasts and birds4 ,i stayed with the ,professor of ,feline ,languages who had invented a kind of ,ollendorffian system for teaching the ,art of ,polite ,conversation among cats4 ,they have an art-class in which the first thing insisted on is that the pupils should know the price of all the leading modern pictures that have been sold during the last twenty years at ,christie's1 and the fluctuations in their values4 ,give an examination paper on this subject4 ,the artist being a picture-dealer1 the first thing he must do is to know how to sell his pictures1 and therefore how to adapt them to the market4 ,what is the use of being able to paint a picture unless one can sell it when one has painted it8 ,add that the secret of the success of modern ,french art lies in its recognition of values4 ,let there be monks who have taken vows of modest competency 7about #ajjj a year1 derived from consols71 who spurn popularity as medieval monks spurned money--and with about as much sincerity4 ,their great object is to try and find out what they like and then get it4 ,they do not live in one building1 and there are no vows of celibacy1 but1 in practice1 when any member marries he drifts away from the society4 ,they have no profession of faith or articles of association1 but1 as they who hunted for the ,holy ,grail1 so do these hunt in all things1 whether of art or science1 for that which commends itself to them as comfortable and worthy to be accepted4 ,their liberty of thought and speech and their reasonable enjoyment of the good things of this life are what they alone live for4 ,let the ,erewhonians have ,westminster ,abbeys of the first1 second and third class1 and in one of these let them raise monuments to dead theories which were once celebrated4 ,let them study those arts whereby the opinions of a minority may be made to seem those of a majority4 ,introduce an ,erewhonian sermon to the effect that if people are wicked they may perhaps have to go to heaven when they die4 ,let them have a ,regius ,professor of ,studied ,ambiguity4 ,let the ,professor of ,worldly ,wisdom pluck a man for want of sufficient vagueness in his saving-clauses paper4 ,another poor fellow may be floored for having written an article on a scientific subject without having made free enough use of the words 8patiently0 and 8carefully10 and for having shown too obvious signs of thinking for himself4 ,let them attach disgrace to any who do not rapidly become obscure after death4 ,let them have a ,professor of ,mischief4 ,they found that people always did harm when they meant well and that all the professorships founded with an avowedly laudable object failed1 so they aim at mischief in the hope that they may miss the mark here as when they aimed at what they thought advantageous4 ,the ,professor of ,worldly ,wisdom plucked a man for buying an egg that had a date stamped upon it4 ,and another for being too often and too seriously in the right4 ,and another for telling people what they did not want to know4 ,he plucked several for insufficient mistrust in printed matter4 ,it appeared that the ,professor had written an article teeming with plausible blunders1 and had had it inserted in a leading weekly4 ,he then set his paper so that the men were sure to tumble into these blunders themselves2 then he plucked them4 ,this occasioned a good deal of comment at the time4 ,one man who entered for the ,chancellor's medal declined to answer any of the questions set4 ,he said he saw they were intended more to show off the ingenuity of the examiner than either to assist or test the judgment of the examined4 ,he observed1 moreover1 that the view taken of his answers would in great measure depend upon what the examiner had had for dinner and1 since it was not in his power to control this1 he was not going to waste time where the result was1 at best1 so much a matter of chance4 ,briefly1 his view of life was that the longer you lived and the less you thought or talked about it the better4 ,he should go pretty straight in the main himself because it saved trouble on the whole1 and he should be guided mainly by a sense of humour in deciding when to deviate from the path of technical honesty1 and he would take care that his errors1 if any1 should be rather on the side of excess than of asceticism ,this man won the ,chancellor's medal4 ,they have a review class in which the pupils are taught not to mind what is written in newspapers4 ,as a natural result they grow up more keenly sensitive than ever4 ,round the margin of the newspapers sentences are printed cautioning the readers against believing the criticisms they see1 inasmuch as personal motives will underlie the greater number4 ,they defend the universities and academic bodies on the ground that1 but for them1 good work would be so universal that the world would become clogged with masterpieces to an extent that would reduce it to an absurdity4 ,good sense would rule over all1 and merely smart or clever people would be unable to earn a living4 ,they assume that truth is best got at by the falling out of thieves4 8,well then1 there must be thieves1 or how can they fall out8 ,our business is to produce the raw material from which truth may be elicited40 8,and you succeed1 sir10 ,i replied1 8in a way that is beyond all praise1 and it seems as though there would be no limit to the supply of truth that ought to be available4 ,but1 considering the number of your thieves1 they show less alacrity in flying at each other's throats than might have been expected40 ,they live their lives backwards1 beginning1 as old men and women1 with little more knowledge of the past than we have of the future1 and foreseeing the future about as clearly as we see the past1 winding up by entering into the womb as though being buried4 ,but delicacy forbids me to pursue this subject further3 the upshot is that it comes to much the same thing1 provided one is used to it4 ,paying debts is a luxury which we cannot all of us afford4 8,it is not every one1 my dear1 who can reach such a counsel of perfection as murder40 ,there was no more space for the chronicles and1 what was worse1 there was no more space in which anything could happen at all1 the whole land had become one vast cancerous growth of chronicles1 chronicles1 chronicles1 nothing but chronicles4 ,the catalogue of the ,browne medals alone will in time come to occupy several hundreds of pages in the ,university ,calendar4 ,there was a professor who was looked upon as such a valuable man because he had done more than any other living person to suppress any kind of originality4 8,it is not our business10 he used to say1 8to help students to think for themselves--surely this is the very last thing that one who wishes them well would do by them4 ,our business to make them think as we do1 or at any rate as we consider expedient to say we do40 ,he was ,president of the ,society for the ,suppression of ,useless ,knowledge and for the ,complete ,obliteration of the ,past4 ,they have professional mind-dressers1 as we have hair-dressers1 and before going out to dinner or fashionable ,at-homes1 people go and get themselves primed with smart sayings or moral reflections according to the style which they think will be most becoming to them in the kind of company they expect4 ,they deify as ,god something which ,i can only translate by a word as underivable as ,god--,i mean ,gumption4 ,but it is part of their religion that there should be no temple to ,gumption1 nor are there priests or professors of ,gumption--,gumption being too ineffable to hit the sense of human definition and analysis4 ,they hold that the function of universities is to make learning repellent and thus to prevent its becoming dangerously common4 ,and they discharge this beneficent function all the more efficiently because they do it unconsciously and automatically4 ,the professors think they are advancing healthy intellectual assimilation and digestion when they are in reality little better than cancer on the stomach4 ,let them be afflicted by an epidemic of the fear-of-giving-themselves-away disease4 ,enumerate its symptoms4 ,there is a new discovery whereby the invisible rays that emanate from the soul can be caught and all the details of a man's spiritual nature1 his character1 disposition1 principles1 c4 be photographed on a plate as easily as his face or the bones of his hands1 but no cure for the f4 o4 g4 th4 a4 disease has yet been discovered4 ,they have a company for ameliorating the condition of those who are in a future state1 and for improving the future state itself4 ,people are buried alive for a week before they are married so that their offspring may know something about the grave1 of which1 otherwise1 heredity could teach it nothing4 ,it has long been held that those constitutions are best which promote most effectually the greatest happiness of the greatest number4 ,now the greatest number are none too wise and none too honest1 and to arrange our systems with a view to the greater happiness of sensible straightforward people--indeed to give these people a chance at all if it can be avoided--is to interfere with the greatest happiness of the greatest number4 ,dull1 slovenly and arrogant people do not like those who are quick1 painstaking and unassuming2 how can we then consistently with the first principles of either morality or political economy encourage such people when we can bring sincerity and modesty fairly home to them8 ,much we have to tolerate1 partly because we cannot always discover in time who are really insincere and who are only masking sincerity under a garb of flippancy1 and partly also because we wish to err on the side of letting the guilty escape rather than of punishing the innocent4 ,thus many people who are perfectly well known to belong to the straightforward class are allowed to remain at large and may even be seen hobnobbing and on the best of possible terms with the guardians of public immorality4 ,we all feel1 as indeed has been said in other nations1 that the poor abuses of the time want countenance1 and this moreover in the interests of the uses themselves1 for the presence of a small modicum of sincerity acts as a wholesome stimulant and irritant to the prevailing spirit of academicism2 moreover1 we hold it useful to have a certain number of melancholy examples whose notorious failure shall serve as a warning to those who do not cultivate a power of immoral self-control which shall prevent them from saying1 or indeed even thinking1 anything that shall not be to their immediate and palpable advantage with the greatest number4 ,it is a point of good breeding with the ,erewhonians to keep their opinions as far as possible in the background in all cases where controversy is even remotely possible1 that is to say whenever conversation gets beyond the discussion of the weather4 ,it is found necessary1 however1 to recognise some means of ventilating points on which differences of opinion may exist1 and the convention adopted is that whenever a man finds occasion to speak strongly he should express himself by dwelling as forcibly as he can on the views most opposed to his own2 even this1 however1 is tolerated rather than approved1 for it is counted the perfection of scholarship and good breeding not to express1 and much more not even to have a definite opinion upon any subject whatsoever4 ,thus their 8yea0 is 8nay0 and their 8nay10 8yea10 but it comes to the same thing in the end1 for it does not matter whether 8yea0 is called 8yea0 or 8nay0 so long as it is understood as 8yea40 ,they go a long way round only to find themselves at the point from which they started1 but there is no accounting for tastes4 ,with us such tactics are inconceivable1 but so far do the ,erewhonians carry them that it is common for them to write whole reviews and articles between the lines of which a practised reader will detect a sense exactly contrary to that ostensibly put forward2 nor is a man held to be more than a tyro in the arts of polite society unless he instinctively suspects a hidden sense in every proposition that meets him4 ,i was more than once misled by these plover-like tactics1 and on one occasion was near getting into a serious scrape4 ,it happened thus3-- ,a man of venerable aspect was maintaining that pain was a sad thing and should not be permitted under any circumstances4 ,people ought not even to be allowed to suffer for the consequences of their own folly1 and should be punished for it severely if they did4 ,if they could only be kept from making fools of themselves by the loss of freedom or1 if necessary1 by some polite and painless method of extinction--which meant hanging--then they ought to be extinguished4 ,if permanent improvement can only be won through ages of mistake and suffering1 which must be all begun de novo for every fresh improvement1 let us be content to forego improvement1 and let those who suffer their lawless thoughts to stray in this direction be improved from off the face of the earth as fast as possible4 ,no remedy can be too drastic for such a disease as the pain felt by another person4 ,we find we can generally bear the pain ourselves when we have to do so1 but it is intolerable that we should know it is being borne by any one else4 ,the mere sight of pain unfits people for ordinary life1 the wear and tear of which would be very much reduced if we would be at any trouble to restrain the present almost unbounded licence in the matter of suffering--a licence that people take advantage of to make themselves as miserable as they please1 without so much as a thought for the feelings of others4 ,hence1 he maintained1 the practice of putting dupes in the same category as the physically diseased or the unlucky was founded on the eternal and inherent nature of things1 and could no more be interfered with than the revolution of the earth on its axis4 ,he said a good deal more to the same effect1 and ,i was beginning to wonder how much longer he would think it necessary to insist on what was so obvious1 when his hearers began to differ from him4 ,one dilated on the correlation between pain and pleasure which ensured that neither could be extinguished without the extinguishing along with it of the other4 ,another said that throughout the animal and vegetable worlds there was found what might be counted as a system of rewards and punishments2 this1 he contended1 must cease to exist 7and hence virtue must cease7 if the pain attaching to misconduct were less notoriously advertised4 ,another maintained that the horror so freely expressed by many at the sight of pain was as much selfish as not--and so on4 ,let ,erewhon be revisited by the son of the original writer--let him hint that his father used to write the advertisements for ,mother ,seigel's ,syrup4 ,he gradually worked his way up to this from being a mere writer of penny tracts4 ,dec4 #ahif4 ,on reaching the country he finds that divine honours are being paid him1 churches erected to him1 and a copious mythology daily swelling1 with accounts of the miracles he had worked and all his sayings and doings4 ,if any child got hurt he used to kiss the place and it would get well at once4 ,everything has been turned topsy-turvy in consequence of his flight in the balloon being ascribed to miraculous agency4 ,among other things1 he had maintained that sermons should be always preached by two people1 one taking one side and another the opposite1 while a third summed up and the congregation decided by a show of hands4 ,this system had been adopted and he goes to hear a sermon ,on the ,growing ,habit of ,careful ,patient ,investigation as ,encouraging ,casuistry4 ,october #ahig4 ,,xix ,truth and ,convenience ,opposites ,,you may have all growth or nothing growth1 just as you may have all mechanism or nothing mechanism1 all chance or nothing chance1 but you must not mix them4 ,having settled this1 you must proceed at once to mix them4 ,two ,points of ,view ,everything must be studied from the point of view of itself1 as near as we can get to this1 and from the point of view of its relations1 as near as we can get to them4 ,if we try to see it absolutely in itself1 unalloyed with relations1 we shall find1 by and by1 that we have1 as it were1 whittled it away4 ,if we try to see it in its relations to the bitter end1 we shall find that there is no corner of the universe into which it does not enter4 ,either way the thing eludes us if we try to grasp it with the horny hands of language and conscious thought4 ,either way we can think it perfectly well--so long as we don't think about thinking about it4 ,the pale cast of thought sicklies over everything4 ,practically everything should be seen as itself pure and simple1 so far as we can comfortably see it1 and at the same time as not itself1 so far as we can comfortably see it1 and then the two views should be combined1 so far as we can comfortably combine them4 ,if we cannot comfortably combine them1 we should think of something else4 ,truth i ,we can neither define what we mean by truth nor be in doubt as to our meaning4 ,and this ,i suppose must be due to the antiquity of the instinct that1 on the whole1 directs us towards truth4 ,we cannot self-vivisect ourselves in respect of such a vital function1 though we can discharge it normally and easily enough so long as we do not think about it4 ii ,the pursuit of truth is chimerical4 ,that is why it is so hard to say what truth is4 ,there is no permanent absolute unchangeable truth2 what we should pursue is the most convenient arrangement of our ideas4 iii ,there is no such source of error as the pursuit of absolute truth4 iv ,a4 ,b4 was so impressed with the greatness and certain ultimate victory of truth that he considered it unnecessary to encourage her or do anything to defend her4 v ,he who can best read men best knows all truth that need concern him2 for it is not what the thing is1 apart from man's thoughts in respect of it1 but how to reach the fairest compromise between men's past and future opinions that is the fittest object of consideration2 and this we get by reading men and women4 vi ,truth should not be absolutely lost sight of1 but it should not be talked about4 vii ,some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch cold on over-exposure4 viii ,the firmest line that can be drawn upon the smoothest paper has still jagged edges if seen through a microscope4 ,this does not matter until important deductions are made on the supposition that there are no jagged edges4 ix ,truth should never be allowed to become extreme2 otherwise it will be apt to meet and to run into the extreme of falsehood4 ,it should be played pretty low down--to the pit and gallery rather than the stalls4 ,pit-truth is more true to the stalls than stall-truth to the pit4 x ,an absolute lie may live--for it is a true lie1 and is saved by being flecked with a grain of its opposite4 ,not so absolute truth4 xi ,whenever we push truth hard she runs to earth in contradiction in terms1 that is to say1 in falsehood4 ,an essential contradiction in terms meets us at the end of every enquiry4 xii ,in ,alps and ,sanctuaries 7,chapter ,v7 ,i implied that ,i was lying when ,i told the novice that ,handel was a ,catholic4 ,but ,i was not lying2 ,handel was a ,catholic1 and so am ,i1 and so is every well-disposed person4 ,it shows how careful we ought to be when we lie--we can never be sure but what we may be speaking the truth4 xiii ,perhaps a little bit of absolute truth on any one question might prove a general solvent1 and dissipate the universe4 xiv ,truth generally is kindness1 but where the two diverge or collide1 kindness should override truth4 ,falsehood i ,truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so4 ,de minimis non curat veritas4 ,yes1 but what is a minimum8 ,sometimes a maximum is a minimum and sometimes it is the other way4 ii ,lying is like borrowing or appropriating in music4 ,it is only a good1 sound1 truthful person who can lie to any good purpose2 if a man is not habitually truthful his very lies will be false to him and betray him4 ,the converse also is true2 if a man is not a good1 sound1 honest1 capable liar there is no truth in him4 iii ,any fool can tell the truth1 but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well4 iv ,i do not mind lying1 but ,i hate inaccuracy4 v ,a friend who cannot at a pinch remember a thing or two that never happened is as bad as one who does not know how to forget4 vi ,cursed is he that does not know when to shut his mind4 ,an open mind is all very well in its way1 but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it4 ,it should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes1 or it may be found a little draughty4 vii ,he who knows not how to wink knows not how to see2 and he who knows not how to lie knows not how to speak the truth4 ,so he who cannot suppress his opinions cannot express them4 viii ,there can no more be a true statement without falsehood distributed through it1 than a note on a well-tuned piano that is not intentionally and deliberately put out of tune to some extent in order to have the piano in the most perfect possible tune4 ,any perfection of tune as regards one key can only be got at the expense of all the rest4 ix ,lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it4 ,we pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him4 x ,i seem to see lies crowding and crushing at a narrow gate and working their way in along with truths into the domain of history4 ,nature's ,double ,falsehood ,that one great lie she told about the earth being flat when she knew it was round all the time6 ,and again how she stuck to it that the sun went round us when it was we who were going round the sun6 ,this double falsehood has irretrievably ruined my confidence in her4 ,there is no lie which she will not tell and stick to like a ,gladstonian4 ,how plausibly she told her tale1 and how many ages was it before she was so much as suspected6 ,and then when things did begin to look bad for her1 how she brazened it out1 and what a desperate business it was to bring her shifts and prevarications to book6 ,convenience i ,we wonder at its being as hard often to discover convenience as it is to discover truth4 ,but surely convenience is truth4 ii ,the use of truth is like the use of words2 both truth and words depend greatly upon custom4 iii ,we do with truth much as we do with ,god4 ,we create it according to our own requirements and then say that it has created us1 or requires that we shall do or think so and so--whatever we find convenient4 iv 8,what is ,truth80 is often asked1 as though it were harder to say what truth is than what anything else is4 ,but what is ,justice8 ,what is anything8 ,an eternal contradiction in terms meets us at the end of every enquiry4 ,we are not required to know what truth is1 but to speak the truth1 and so with justice4 v ,the search after truth is like the search after perpetual motion or the attempt to square the circle4 ,all we should aim at is the most convenient way of looking at a thing--the way that most sensible people are likely to find give them least trouble for some time to come4 ,it is not true that the sun used to go round the earth until ,copernicus's time1 but it is true that until ,copernicus's time it was most convenient to us to hold this4 ,still1 we had certain ideas which could only fit in comfortably with our other ideas when we came to consider the sun as the centre of the planetary system4 ,obvious convenience often takes a long time before it is fully recognised and acted upon1 but there will be a nisus towards it as long and as widely spread as the desire of men to be saved trouble4 ,if truth is not trouble-saving in the long run it is not truth3 truth is only that which is most largely and permanently trouble-saving4 ,the ultimate triumph1 therefore1 of truth rests on a very tangible basis--much more so than when it is made to depend upon the will of an unseen and unknowable agency4 ,if my views about the ,odyssey1 for example1 will1 in the long run1 save students from perplexity1 the students will be sure to adopt them1 and ,i have no wish that they should adopt them otherwise4 ,it does not matter much what the truth is1 but our knowing the truth--that is to say our hitting on the most permanently convenient arrangement of our ideas upon a subject whatever it may be--matters very much2 at least it matters1 or may matter1 very much in some relations4 ,and however little it matters1 yet it matters1 and however much it matters yet it does not matter4 ,in the utmost importance there is unimportance1 and in the utmost unimportance there is importance4 ,so also it is with certainty1 life1 matter1 necessity1 consciousness and1 indeed1 with everything which can form an object of human sensation at all1 or of those after-reasonings which spring ultimately from sensations4 ,this is a round-about way of saying that every question has two sides4 vi ,our concern is with the views we shall choose to take and to let other people take concerning things1 and as to the way of expressing those views which shall give least trouble4 ,if we express ourselves in one way we find our ideas in confusion and our action impotent3 if in another our ideas cohere harmoniously1 and our action is edifying4 ,the convenience of least disturbing vested ideas1 and at the same time rearranging our views in accordance with new facts that come to our knowledge1 this is our proper care4 ,but it is idle to say we do not know anything about things--perhaps we do1 perhaps we don't--but we at any rate know what sane people think and are likely to think about things1 and this to all intents and purposes is knowing the things themselves4 ,for the things only are what sensible people agree to say and think they are4 vii ,the arrangement of our ideas is as much a matter of convenience as the packing of goods in a druggist's or draper's store and leads to exactly the same kind of difficulties in the matter of classifying them4 ,we all admit the arbitrariness of classifications in a languid way1 but we do not think of it more than we can help--,i suppose because it is so inconvenient to do so4 ,the great advantage of classification is to conceal the fact that subdivisions are as arbitrary as they are4 ,classification ,there can be no perfect way1 for classification presupposes that a thing has absolute limits whereas there is nothing that does not partake of the universal infinity--nothing whose boundaries do not vary4 ,everything is one thing at one time and in some respects1 and another at other times and in other respects4 ,we want a new mode of measurement altogether2 at present we take what gaps we can find1 set up milestones1 and declare them irremovable4 ,we want a measure which shall express1 or at any rate recognise1 the harmonics of resemblance that lurk even in the most absolute differences and vice versa4 ,attempts at ,classification are like nailing battens of our own flesh and blood upon ourselves as an inclined plane that we may walk up ourselves more easily2 and yet it answers very sufficiently4 ,a ,clergyman's ,doubts ,under this heading a correspondence appeared in the ,examiner1 #aeth ,february to #adth ,june1 #ahgi4 ,butler wrote all the letters under various signatures except one or perhaps two4 ,his first letter purported to come from 8,an ,earnest ,clergyman0 aged forty-five1 with a wife1 five children1 a country living worth #djj a year1 and a house1 but no private means4 ,he had ceased to believe in the doctrines he was called upon to teach4 ,ought he to continue to lead a life that was a lie or ought he to throw up his orders and plunge himself1 his wife and children into poverty8 ,the dilemma interested ,butler deeply3 he might so easily have found himself in it if he had not begun to doubt the efficacy of infant baptism when he did4 ,fifteen letters followed1 signed 8,cantab10 8,oxoniensis10 and so forth1 some recommending one course1 some another4 ,one1 signed 8,x4,y4,z410 included 8,the ,righteous ,man0 which will be found in the last group of this volume1 headed 8,poems40 ,from the following letter signed 8,ethics0 ,butler afterwards took two passages 7which ,i have enclosed1 one between single asterisks the other between double asterisks71 and used them for the 8,dissertation on ,lying0 which is in ,chapter ,v of ,alps and ,sanctuaries4 ,to the ,editor of the ,examiner4 ,sir3 ,i am sorry for your correspondent 8,an ,earnest ,clergyman0 for1 though he may say he has 8come to smile at his troubles10 his smile seems to be a grim one4 ,we must all of us eat a peck of moral dirt before we die1 but some must know more precisely than others when they are eating it2 some1 again1 can bolt it without wry faces in one shape1 while they cannot endure even the smell of it in another4 8,an ,earnest ,clergyman0 admits that he is in the habit of telling people certain things which he does not believe1 but says he has no great fancy for deceiving himself4 8,cantab0 must1 ,i fear1 deceive himself before he can tolerate the notion of deceiving other people4 ,for my own part ,i prefer to be deceived by one who does not deceive himself rather than by one who does1 for the first will know better when to stop1 and will not commonly deceive me more than he can help4 ,as for the other--if he does not know how to invest his own thoughts safely he will invest mine still worse2 he will hold ,god's most precious gift of falsehood too cheap2 he has come by it too easily2 cheaply come1 cheaply go will be his maxim4 ,the good liar should be the converse of the poet2 he should be made1 not born4 ,it is not loss of confidence in a man's strict adherence to the letter of truth that shakes my confidence in him4 ,i know what ,i do myself and what ,i must lose all social elasticity if ,i were not to do4 99 ,turning for moral guidance to my cousins the lower animals--whose unsophisticated instinct proclaims what ,god has taught them with a directness we may sometimes study--,i find the plover lying when she reads us truly and1 knowing that we shall hit her if we think her to be down1 lures us from her young ones under the fiction of a broken wing4 ,is ,god angry1 think you1 with this pretty deviation from the letter of strict accuracy8 or was it not ,he who whispered to her to tell the falsehood1 to tell it with a circumstance1 without conscientious scruples1 and not once only but to make a practice of it1 so as to be an habitual liar for at least six weeks in the year8 ,i imagine so4 ,when ,i was young ,i used to read in good books that it was ,god who taught the bird to make her nest1 and1 if so1 ,he probably taught each species the other domestic arrangements which should be best suited to it4 ,or did the nest-building information come from ,god and was there an ,evil ,one among the birds also who taught them to steer clear of pedantry8 ,then there is the spider--an ugly creature1 but ,i suppose ,god likes it--can anything be meaner than that web which naturalists extol as such a marvel of ,providential ingenuity8 ,ingenuity6 ,the word reeks with lying4 ,once1 on a summer afternoon1 in a distant country ,i met one of those orchids whose main idea consists in the imitation of a fly2 this lie they dispose so plausibly upon their petals that other flies who would steal their honey leave them unmolested4 ,watching intently and keeping very still1 methought ,i heard this person speaking to the offspring which she felt within her though ,i saw them not4 8,my children10 she exclaimed1 8,i must soon leave you2 think upon the fly1 my loved ones2 make it look as terrible as possible2 cling to this thought in your passage through life1 for it is the one thing needful2 once lose sight of it and you are lost40 ,over and over again she sang this burden in a small1 still voice1 and so ,i left her4 ,then straightway ,i came upon some butterflies whose profession it was to pretend to believe in all manner of vital truths which in their inner practice they rejected2 thus1 pretending to be certain other and hateful butterflies which no bird will eat by reason of their abominable smell1 these cunning ones conceal their own sweetness1 live long in the land and see good days4 ,think of that1 ,o ,earnest ,clergyman1 my friend6 ,no4 ,lying is like ,nature1 you may expel her with a fork1 but she will always come back again4 ,lying is like the poor1 we must have it always with us4 ,the question is1 ,how much1 when1 where1 to whom and under what circumstances is lying right8 ,for1 once admit that a plover may pretend to have a broken wing and yet be without sin if she have pretended well enough1 and the thin edge of the wedge has been introduced so that there is no more saying that we must never lie4 99 ,it is not1 then1 the discovery that a man has the power to lie that shakes my confidence in him2 it is loss of confidence in his mendacity that ,i find it impossible to get over4 ,i forgive him for telling me lies1 but ,i cannot forgive him for not telling me the same lies1 or nearly so1 about the same things4 ,this shows he has a slipshod memory1 which is unpardonable1 or else that he tells so many lies that he finds it impossible to remember all of them1 and this is like having too many of the poor always with us4 ,the plover and the spider have each of them their stock of half a dozen lies or so which we may expect them to tell when occasion arises2 they are plausible and consistent1 but we know where to have them2 otherwise1 if they were liable1 like self-deceivers1 to spring mines upon us in unexpected places1 man would soon make it his business to reform them--not from within1 but from without4 ,and now it is time ,i came to the drift of my letter1 which is that if 8,an ,earnest ,clergyman0 has not cheated himself into thinking he is telling the truth1 he will do no great harm by stopping where he is4 ,do not let him make too much fuss about trifles4 ,the solemnity of the truths which he professes to uphold is very doubtful2 there is a tacit consent that it exists more on paper than in reality4 ,if he is a man of any tact1 he can say all he is compelled to say and do all the ,church requires of him--like a gentleman1 with neither undue slovenliness nor undue unction--yet it shall be perfectly plain to all his parishioners who are worth considering that he is acting as a mouthpiece and that his words are spoken dramatically4 ,as for the unimaginative1 they are as children2 they cannot and should not be taken into account4 ,men must live as they must write or act--for a certain average standard which each must guess at for himself as best he can2 those who are above this standard he cannot reach2 those1 again1 who are below it must be so at their own risk4 ,pilate did well when he would not stay for an answer to his question1 ,what is truth8 for there is no such thing apart from the sayer and the sayee4 9999 ,there is that irony in nature which brings it to pass that if the sayer be a man with any stuff in him1 provided he tells no lies wittingly to himself and is never unkindly1 he may lie and lie and lie all the day long1 and he will no more be false to any man than the sun will shine by night2 his lies will become truths as they pass into the hearer's soul4 ,but if a man deceives himself and is unkind1 the truth is not in him1 it turns to falsehood while yet in his mouth1 like the quails in the wilderness of ,sinai4 ,how this is so or why1 ,i know not1 but that the ,lord hath mercy on whom ,he will have mercy and whom ,he willeth ,he hardeneth1 and that the bad man can do no right and the good no wrong4 9999 ,a great ,french writer has said that the mainspring of our existence does not lie in those veins and nerves and arteries which have been described with so much care--these are but its masks and mouthpieces through which it acts but behind which it is for ever hidden2 so in like manner the faiths and formul of a ,church may be as its bones and animal mechanism1 but they are not the life of the ,church1 which is something rather that cannot be holden in words1 and one should know how to put them off1 yet put them off gracefully1 if they wish to come too prominently forward4 ,do not let 8,an ,earnest ,clergyman0 take things too much au srieux4 ,he seems to be contented where he is2 let him take the word of one who is old enough to be his father1 that if he has a talent for conscientious scruples he will find plenty of scope for them in other professions as well as in the ,church4 ,i1 for aught he knows1 may be a doctor and ,i might tell my own story2 or ,i may be a barrister and have found it my duty to win a case which ,i thought a very poor one1 whereby others1 whose circumstances were sufficiently pitiable1 lost their all2 yet doctors and barristers do not write to the newspapers to air their poor consciences in broad daylight4 ,why should ,an ,earnest 7,i hate the word7 ,clergyman do so8 ,let me give him a last word or two of fatherly advice4 ,men may settle small things for themselves--as what they will have for dinner or where they will spend the vacation--but the great ones--such as the choice of a profession1 of the part of ,england they will live in1 whether they will marry or no--they had better leave the force of circumstances to settle for them2 if they prefer the phraseology1 as ,i do myself1 let them leave these matters to ,god4 ,when ,he has arranged things for them1 do not let them be in too great a hurry to upset ,his arrangement in a tiff4 ,if they do not like their present and another opening suggests itself easily and naturally1 let them take that as a sign that they make a change2 otherwise1 let them see to it that they do not leave the frying-pan for the fire4 ,a man1 finding himself in the field of a profession1 should do as cows do when they are put into a field of grass4 ,they do not like any field2 they like the open prairie of their ancestors4 ,they walk1 however1 all round their new abode1 surveying the hedges and gates with much interest4 ,if there is a gap in any hedge they will commonly go through it at once1 otherwise they will resign themselves contentedly enough to the task of feeding4 ,i am1 ,sir1 ,one who thinks he knows a thing or two about ,,ethics4 ,,xx ,first ,principles ,the ,baselessness of ,our ,ideas ,,that our ideas are baseless1 or rotten at the roots1 is what few who study them will deny2 but they are rotten in the same way as property is robbery1 and property is robbery in the same way as our ideas are rotten at the roots1 that is to say it is a robbery and it is not4 ,no title to property1 no idea and no living form 7which is the embodiment of idea7 is indefeasible if search be made far enough4 ,granted that our thoughts are baseless1 yet they are so in the same way as the earth itself is both baseless and most firmly based1 or again most stable and yet most in motion4 ,our ideas1 or rather1 ,i should say1 our realities1 are all of them like our ,gods1 based on superstitious foundations4 ,if man is a microcosm then kosmos is a megalanthrope and that is how we come to anthropomorphise the deity4 ,in the eternal pendulum swing of thought we make ,god in our own image1 and then make him make us1 and then find it out and cry because we have no ,god and so on1 over and over again as a child has new toys given to it1 tires of them1 breaks them and is disconsolate till it gets new ones which it will again tire of and break4 ,if the man who first made ,god in his own image had been a good model1 all might have been well2 but he was impressed with an undue sense of his own importance and1 as a natural consequence1 he had no sense of humour4 ,both these imperfections he has fully and faithfully reproduced in his work and with the result we are familiar4 ,all our most solid and tangible realities are but as lies that we have told too often henceforth to question them4 ,but we have to question them sometimes4 ,it is not the sun that goes round the world but we who go round the sun4 ,if any one is for examining and making requisitions on title we can search too1 and can require the title of the state as against any other state1 or against the world at large4 ,but suppose we succeed in this1 we must search further still and show by what title mankind has ousted the lower animals1 and by what title we eat them1 or they themselves eat grass or one another4 ,see what quicksands we fall into if we wade out too far from the terra firma of common consent6 ,the error springs from supposing that there is any absolute right or absolute truth1 and also from supposing that truth and right are any the less real for being not absolute but relative4 ,in the complex of human affairs we should aim not at a supposed absolute standard but at the greatest coming-together-ness or convenience of all our ideas and practices2 that is to say1 at their most harmonious working with one another4 ,hit ourselves somewhere we are bound to do3 no idea will travel far without colliding with some other idea4 ,thus1 if we pursue one line of probable convenience1 we find it convenient to see all things as ultimately one3 that is1 if we insist rather on the points of agreement between things than on those of disagreement4 ,if we insist on the opposite view1 namely1 on the points of disagreement1 we find ourselves driven to the conclusion that each atom is an individual entity1 and that the unity between even the most united things is apparent only4 ,if we did not unduly insist upon--that is to say1 emphasise and exaggerate--the part which concerns us for the time1 we should never get to understand anything2 the proper way is to exaggerate first one view and then the other1 and then let the two exaggerations collide1 but good-temperedly and according to the laws of civilised mental warfare4 ,so we see first all things as one1 then all things as many and1 in the end1 a multitude in unity and a unity in multitude4 ,care must be taken not to accept ideas which though very agreeable at first disagree with us afterwards1 and keep rising on our mental stomachs1 as garlic does upon our bodily4 ,imagination i ,imagination depends mainly upon memory1 but there is a small percentage of creation of something out of nothing with it4 ,we can invent a trifle more than can be got at by mere combination of remembered things4 ii ,when we are impressed by a few only1 or perhaps only one of a number of ideas which are bonded pleasantly together1 there is hope2 when we see a good many there is expectation2 when we have had so many presented to us that we have expected confidently and the remaining ideas have not turned up1 there is disappointment4 ,so the sailor says in the play3 8,here are my arms1 here is my manly bosom1 but where's my ,mary80 iii ,what tricks imagination plays6 ,thus1 if we expect a person in the street we transform a dozen impossible people into him while they are still too far off to be seen distinctly2 and when we expect to hear a footstep on the stairs--as1 we will say1 the postman's--we hear footsteps in every sound4 ,imagination will make us see a billiard hall as likely to travel farther than it will travel1 if we hope that it will do so4 ,it will make us think we feel a train begin to move as soon as the guard has said 8,all right10 though the train has not yet begun to move if another train alongside begins to move exactly at this juncture1 there is no man who will not be deceived4 ,and we omit as much as we insert4 ,we often do not notice that a man has grown a beard4 iv ,i read once of a man who was cured of a dangerous illness by eating his doctor's prescription which he understood was the medicine itself4 ,so ,william ,sefton ,moorhouse in ,new ,zealand imagined he was being converted to ,christianity by reading ,burton's ,anatomy of ,melancholy1 which he had got by mistake for ,butler's ,analogy1 on the recommendation of a friend4 ,but it puzzled him a good deal4 v ,at ,ivy ,hatch1 while we were getting our beer in the inner parlour1 there was a confused mle of voices in the bar1 amid which ,i distinguished a voice saying3 8,imagination will do any bloody thing almost40 ,i was writing ,life and ,habit at the time and was much tempted to put this passage in4 ,nothing truer has ever been said about imagination4 ,then the voice was heard addressing the barman and saying3 8,i suppose you wouldn't trust me with a quart of beer1 would you80 ,inexperience ,kant says that all our knowledge is founded on experience4 ,but each new small increment of knowledge is not so founded1 and our whole knowledge is made up of the accumulation of these small new increments not one of which is founded upon experience4 ,our knowledge1 then1 is founded not on experience but on inexperience2 for where there is no novelty1 that is to say no inexperience1 there is no increment in experience4 ,our knowledge is really founded upon something which we do not know1 but it is converted into experience by memory4 ,it is like species--we do not know the cause of the variations whose accumulation results in species and any explanation which leaves this out of sight ignores the whole difficulty4 ,we want to know the cause of the effect that inexperience produces on us4 ,ex ,nihilo ,nihil ,fit ,we say that everything has a beginning4 ,this is one side of the matter4 ,there is another according to which everything is without a beginning--beginnings1 and endings also1 being1 but as it were1 steps cut in a slope of ice without which we could not climb it4 ,they are for convenience and the hardness of the hearts of men who make an idol of classification1 but they do not exist apart from our sense of our own convenience4 ,it was a favourite saying with ,william ,sefton ,moorhouse in ,new ,zealand that men cannot get rich by swopping knives4 ,nevertheless nature does seem to go upon this principle4 ,everybody does eat everybody up4 ,man eats birds1 birds eat worms and worms eat man again4 ,it is a vicious circle1 yet1 somehow or other1 there is an increment4 ,i begin to doubt the principle ex nihilo nihil fit4 ,we very much want a way of getting something out of nothing and back into it again4 ,whether or no we ever shall get such a way1 we see the clearly perceptible arising out of and returning into the absolutely imperceptible and1 so far as we are concerned1 this is much the same thing4 ,to assume an unknowable substratum as the source from which all things proceed or are evolved is equivalent to assuming that they come up out of nothing2 for that which does not exist for us is for us nothing2 that which we do not know does not exist qua us1 and therefore it does not exist4 ,when ,i say 8we10 ,i mean mankind generally1 for things may exist qua one man and not qua another4 ,and when ,i say 8nothing0 ,i postulate something of which we have no experience4 ,and yet we cannot say that a thing does not exist till it is known to exist4 ,the planet ,neptune existed though1 qua us1 it did not exist before ,adams and ,leverrier discovered it1 and we cannot hold that its continued non-existence to my laundress and her husband makes it any the less an entity4 ,we cannot say that it did not exist at all till it was discovered1 that it exists only partially and vaguely to most of us1 that to many it still does not exist at all1 that there are few to whom it even exists in any force or fullness and none who can realise more than the broad facts of its existence4 ,neptune has been disturbing the orbits of the planets nearest to him for more centuries than we can reckon1 and whether or not he is known to have been doing so has nothing to do with the matter4 ,if ,a is robbed1 he is robbed1 whether he knows it or not4 ,in one sense1 then1 we cannot say that the planet ,neptune did not exist till he was discovered1 but in another we can and ought to do so4 ,de non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio2 as long1 therefore1 as ,neptune did not appear he did not exist qua us4 ,the only way out of it is through the contradiction in terms of maintaining that a thing exists and does not exist at one and the same time4 ,so ,a may be both robbed1 and not robbed4 ,we consider1 therefore1 that things have assumed their present shape by course of evolution from a something which1 qua us1 is a nothing1 from a potential something but not an actual1 from an actual nothing but a potential not-nothing1 from a nothing which might become a something to us with any modification on our parts but which1 till such modification has arisen1 does not exist in relation to us1 though very conceivably doing so in relation to other entities4 ,but this ,protean nothing1 capable of appearing as something1 is not the absolute1 eternal1 unchangeable nothing that we mean when we say ex nihilo nihil fit4 ,the alternative is that something should not have come out of nothing1 and this is saying that something has always existed4 ,but the eternal increateness of matter seems as troublesome to conceive as its having been created out of nothing4 ,i say 8seems10 for ,i am not sure how far it really is so4 ,we never saw something come out of nothing1 that is to say1 we never saw a beginning of anything except as the beginning of a new phase of something pre-existent4 ,we ought therefore to find the notion of eternal being familiar1 it ought to be the only conception of matter which we are able to form3 nevertheless1 we are so carried away by being accustomed to see phases have their beginnings and endings that we forget that the matter1 of which we see the phase begin and end1 did not begin or end with the phase4 ,eternal matter permeated by eternal mind1 matter and mind being functions of one another1 is the least uncomfortable way of looking at the universe2 but as it is beyond our comprehension1 and cannot therefore be comfortable1 sensible persons will not look at the universe at all except in such details as may concern them4 ,contradiction in ,terms ,we pay higher and higher in proportion to the service rendered till we get to the highest services1 such as becoming a ,member of ,parliament1 and this must not be paid at all4 ,if a man would go yet higher and found a new and permanent system1 or create some new idea or work of art which remains to give delight to ages--he must not only not be paid1 but he will have to pay very heavily out of his own pocket into the bargain4 ,again1 we are to get all men to speak well of us if we can2 yet we are to be cursed if all men speak well of us4 ,so when the universe has gathered itself into a single ball 7which ,i don't for a moment believe it ever will1 but ,i don't care7 it will no sooner have done so1 than the bubble will burst and it will go back to its gases again4 ,contradiction in terms is so omnipresent that we treat it as we treat death1 or free-will1 or fate1 or air1 or ,god1 or the ,devil--taking these things so much as matters of course that1 though they are visible enough if we choose to see them1 we neglect them normally altogether1 without for a moment intending to deny their existence4 ,this neglect is convenient as preventing repetitions the monotony of which would defeat their own purpose1 but people are tempted nevertheless to forget the underlying omnipresence in the superficial omniabsence4 ,they forget that its opposite lurks in everything--that there are harmonics of ,god in the ,devil and harmonics of the ,devil in ,god4 ,contradiction in terms is not only to be excused but there can be no proposition which does not more or less involve one4 ,it is the fact of there being contradictions in terms1 which have to be smoothed away and fused into harmonious acquiescence with their surroundings1 that makes life and consciousness possible at all4 ,unless the unexpected were sprung upon us continually to enliven us we should pass life1 as it were1 in sleep4 ,to a living being no 8,it is0 can be absolute2 wherever there is an 8,is10 there1 among its harmonics1 lurks an 8,is not40 ,when there is absolute absence of 8,is not0 the 8,is0 goes too4 ,and the 8,is not0 does not go completely till the 8,is0 is gone along with it4 ,every proposition has got a skeleton in its cupboard4 ,extremes i ,intuition and evidence seem to have something of the same relation that faith and reason1 luck and cunning1 freewill and necessity and demand and supply have4 ,they grow up hand in hand and no man can say which comes first4 ,it is the same with life and death1 which lurk one within the other as do rest and unrest1 change and persistence1 heat and cold1 poverty and riches1 harmony and counterpoint1 night and day1 summer and winter4 ,and so with pantheism and atheism2 loving everybody is loving nobody1 and ,god everywhere is1 practically1 ,god nowhere4 ,i once asked a man if he was a free-thinker2 he replied that he did not think he was4 ,and so1 ,i have heard of a man exclaiming 8,i am an atheist1 thank ,god60 ,those who say there is a ,god are wrong unless they mean at the same time that there is no ,god1 and vice versa4 ,the difference is the same as that between plus nothing and minus nothing1 and it is hard to say which we ought to admire and thank most--the first theist or the first atheist4 ,nevertheless1 for many reasons1 the plus nothing is to be preferred4 ii ,to be poor is to be contemptible1 to be very poor is worse still1 and so on2 but to be actually at the point of death through poverty is to be sublime4 ,so 8when weakness is utter1 honour ceaseth40 ,the ,righteous ,man1 p4 #cij1 post4 iii ,the meeting of extremes is never clearer than in the case of moral and intellectual strength and weakness4 ,we may say with ,hesiod 8,how much the half is greater than the whole60 or with ,s4 ,paul 8,my strength is made perfect in weakness02 they come to much the same thing4 ,we all know strength so strong as to be weaker than weakness and weakness so great as to be stronger than strength4 iv ,the ,queen travels as the ,countess of ,balmoral and would probably be very glad1 if she could1 to travel as plain ,mrs4 ,smith4 ,there is a good deal of the ,queen lurking in every ,mrs4 ,smith and1 conversely1 a good deal of ,mrs4 ,smith lurking in every queen4 ,free-,will and ,necessity ,as ,i am tidying up1 and the following beginning of a paper on the above subject has been littering about my table since ,december #ahhi1 which is the date on the top of page i1 ,i will shoot it on to this dust-heap and bury it out of my sight4 ,it runs3 ,the difficulty has arisen from our forgetting that contradiction in terms lies at the foundation of all our thoughts as a condition and sine qua non of our being able to think at all4 ,we imagine that we must either have all free-will and no necessity1 or all necessity and no free-will1 and1 it being obvious that our free-will is often overridden by force of circumstances while the evidence that necessity is overridden by free-will is harder to find 7if indeed it can be found1 for ,i have not fully considered the matter71 most people who theorise upon this question will deny in theory that there is any free-will at all1 though in practice they take care to act as if there was4 ,for if we admit that like causes are followed by like effects 7and everything that we do is based upon this hypothesis71 it follows that every combination of causes must have some one consequent which can alone follow it and which free-will cannot touch4 7,yes1 but it will generally be found that free-will entered into the original combination and the repetition of the combination will not be exact unless a like free-will is repeated along with all the other factors47 ,from which it follows that free-will is apparent only1 and that1 as ,i said years ago in ,erewhon1 we are not free to choose what seems best on each occasion but bound to do so1 being fettered to the freedom of our wills throughout our lives4 ,but to deny free-will is to deny moral responsibility1 and we are landed in absurdity at once--for there is nothing more patent than that moral responsibility exists4 ,nevertheless1 at first sight1 it would seem as though we ought not to hang a man for murder if there was no escape for him but that he must commit one4 ,of course the answer to one who makes this objection is that our hanging him is as much a matter of necessity as his committing the murder4 ,if1 again1 necessity1 as involved in the certainty that like combinations will be followed by like consequence1 is a basis on which all our actions are founded1 so also is freewill4 ,this is quite as much a sine qua non for action as necessity is2 for who would try to act if he did not think that his trying would influence the result8 ,we have therefore two apparently incompatible and mutually destructive faiths1 each equally and self-evidently demonstrable1 each equally necessary for salvation of any kind1 and each equally entering into every thought and action of our whole lives1 yet utterly contradictory and irreconcilable4 ,can any dilemma seem more hopeless8 ,it is not a case of being able to live happily with either were t'other dear charmer away2 it is indispensable that we should embrace both1 and embrace them with equal cordiality at the same time1 though each annihilates the other4 ,it is as though it were indispensable to our existence to be equally dead and equally alive at one and the same moment4 ,here we have an illustration which may help us4 ,for1 after all1 we are both dead and alive at one and the same moment4 ,there is no life without a taint of death and no death that is not instinct with a residuum of past life and with germs of the new that is to succeed it4 ,let those who deny this show us an example of pure life and pure death4 ,any one who has considered these matters will know this to be impossible4 ,and yet in spite of this1 the cases where we are in doubt whether a thing is to be more fitly called dead or alive are so few that they may be disregarded4 ,i take it1 then1 that as1 though alive1 we are in part dead and1 though dead1 in part alive1 so1 though bound by necessity1 we are in part free1 and1 though free1 yet in part bound by necessity4 ,at least ,i can think of no case of such absolute necessity in human affairs as that free-will should have no part in it1 nor of such absolute free-will that no part of the action should be limited and controlled by necessity4 ,thus1 when a man walks to the gallows1 he is under large necessity1 yet he retains much small freedom2 when pinioned1 he is less free1 but he can open his eyes and mouth and pray aloud or no as he pleases2 even when the drop has fallen1 so long as he is 8he0 at all1 he can exercise some1 though infinitely small1 choice4 ,it may be answered that throughout the foregoing chain of actions1 the freedom1 what little there is of it1 is apparent only1 and that even in the small freedoms1 which are not so obviously controlled by necessity1 the necessity is still present as effectually as when the man1 though apparently free to walk to the gallows1 is in reality bound to do so4 ,for in respect of the small details of his manner of walking to the gallows1 which compulsion does not so glaringly reach1 what is it that the man is free to do8 ,he is free to do as he likes1 but he is not free to do as he does not like2 and a man's likings are determined by outside things and by antecedents1 pre-natal and post-natal1 whose effect is so powerful that the individual who makes the choice proves to be only the resultant of certain forces which have been brought to bear upon him but which are not the man4 ,so that it seems there is no detail1 no nook or corner of action1 into which necessity does not penetrate4 ,this seems logical1 but it is as logical to follow instinct and common sense as to follow logic1 and both instinct and common sense assure us that there is no nook or corner of action into which free-will does not penetrate1 unless it be those into which mind does not enter at all1 as when a man is struck by lightning or is overwhelmed suddenly by an avalanche4 ,besides1 those who maintain that action is bound to follow choice1 while choice can only follow opinion as to advantage1 neglect the very considerable number of cases in which opinion as to advantage does not exist--when1 for instance1 a man feels1 as we all of us sometimes do1 that he is utterly incapable of forming any opinion whatever as to his most advantageous course4 ,but this again is fallacious4 ,for suppose he decides to toss up and be guided by the result1 this is still what he has chosen to do1 and his action1 therefore1 is following his choice4 ,or suppose1 again1 that he remains passive and does nothing--his passivity is his choice4 ,i can see no way out of it unless either frankly to admit that contradiction in terms is the bedrock on which all our thoughts and deeds are founded1 and to acquiesce cheerfully in the fact that whenever we try to go below the surface of any enquiry we find ourselves utterly baffled--or to redefine freedom and necessity1 admitting each as a potent factor of the other4 ,and this ,i do not see my way to doing4 ,i am therefore necessitated to choose freely the admission that our understanding can burrow but a very small way into the foundations of our beliefs1 and can only weaken rather than strengthen them by burrowing at all4 ,free-,will otherwise ,cunning ,the element of free-will1 cunning1 spontaneity1 individuality--so omnipresent1 so essential1 yet so unreasonable1 and so inconsistent with the other element not less omnipresent and not less essential1 ,i mean necessity1 luck1 fate--this element of free-will1 which comes from the unseen kingdom within which the writs of our thoughts run not1 must be carried down to the most tenuous atoms whose action is supposed most purely chemical and mechanical2 it can never be held as absolutely eliminated1 for if it be so held1 there is no getting it back again1 and that it exists1 even in the lowest forms of life1 cannot be disputed4 ,its existence is one of the proofs of the existence of an unseen world1 and a means whereby we know the little that we do know of that world4 ,necessity otherwise ,luck ,it is all very well to insist upon the free-will or cunning side of living action1 more especially now when it has been so persistently ignored1 but though the fortunes of birth and surroundings have all been built up by cunning1 yet it is by ancestral1 vicarious cunning1 and this1 to each individual1 comes to much the same as luck pure and simple2 in fact1 luck is seldom seriously intended to mean a total denial of cunning1 but is for the most part only an expression whereby we summarise and express our sense of a cunning too complex and impalpable for conscious following and apprehension4 ,when we consider how little we have to do with our parentage1 country and education1 or even with our genus and species1 how vitally these things affect us both in life and death1 and how1 practically1 the cunning in connection with them is so spent as to be no cunning at all1 it is plain that the drifts1 currents1 and storms of what is virtually luck will be often more than the little helm of cunning can control4 ,and so with death4 ,nothing can affect us less1 but at the same time nothing can affect us more2 and how little can cunning do against it8 ,at the best it can only defer it4 ,cunning is nine-tenths luck1 and luck is nine-tenths cunning2 but the fact that nine-tenths of cunning is luck leaves still a tenth part unaccounted for4 ,choice ,our choice is apparently most free1 and we are least obviously driven to determine our course1 in those cases where the future is most obscure1 that is1 when the balance of advantage appears most doubtful4 ,where we have an opinion that assures us promptly which way the balance of advantage will incline--whether it be an instinctive1 hereditarily acquired opinion or one rapidly and decisively formed as the result of post-natal experience--then our action is determined at once by that opinion1 and freedom of choice practically vanishes4 ,ego and ,non-,ego ,you can have all ego1 or all non-ego1 but in theory you cannot have half one and half the other--yet in practice this is exactly what you must have1 for everything is both itself and not itself at one and the same time4 ,a living thing is itself in so far as it has wants and gratifies them4 ,it is not itself in so far as it uses itself as a tool for the gratifying of its wants4 ,thus an amba is aware of a piece of meat which it wants to eat4 ,it has nothing except its own body to fling at the meat and catch it with4 ,if it had a little hand-net1 or even such an organ as our own hand1 it would use it1 but it has only got itself2 so it takes itself by the scruff of its own neck1 as it were1 and flings itself at the piece of meat1 as though it were not itself but something which it is using in order to gratify itself4 ,so we make our own bodies into carriages every time we walk4 ,our body is our tool-box--and our bodily organs are the simplest tools we can catch hold of4 ,when the amba has got the piece of meat and has done digesting it1 it leaves off being not itself and becomes itself again4 ,a thing is only itself when it is doing nothing2 as long as it is doing something it is its own tool and not itself4 ,or you may have it that everything is itself in respect of the pleasure or pain it is feeling1 but not itself in respect of the using of itself by itself as a tool with which to work its will4 ,or perhaps we should say that the ego remains always ego in part2 it does not become all non-ego at one and the same time4 ,we throw our fist into a man's face as though it were a stick we had picked up to beat him with4 ,for the moment1 our fist is hardly 8us10 but it becomes 8us0 again as we feel the resistance it encounters from the man's eye4 ,anyway1 we can only chuck about a part of ourselves at a time1 we cannot chuck the lot--and yet ,i do not know this1 for we may jump off the ground and fling ourselves on to a man4 ,the fact that both elements are present and are of such nearly equal value explains the obstinacy of the conflict between the upholders of ,necessity and ,free-,will which1 indeed1 are only luck and cunning under other names4 ,for1 on the one hand1 the surroundings so obviously and powerfully mould us1 body and soul1 and even the little modifying power which at first we seem to have is found1 on examination1 to spring so completely from surroundings formerly beyond the control of our ancestors1 that a logical thinker1 who starts with these premises1 is soon driven to the total denial of free-will1 except1 of course1 as an illusion2 in other words1 he perceives the connection between ego and non-ego1 tries to disunite them so as to know when he is talking about what1 and finds to his surprise that he cannot do so without violence to one or both4 ,being1 above all things1 a logical thinker1 and abhorring the contradiction in terms involved in admitting anything to be both itself and something other than itself at one and the same time1 he makes the manner in which the one is rooted into the other a pretext for merging the ego1 as the less bulky of the two1 in the non-ego2 hence practically he declares the ego to have no further existence1 except as a mere appendage and adjunct of the non-ego the existence of which he alone recognises 7though how he can recognise it without recognising also that he is recognising it as something foreign to himself it is not easy to see74 ,as for the action and interaction that goes on in the non-ego1 he refers it to fate1 fortune1 chance1 luck1 necessity1 immutable law1 providence 7meaning generally improvidence7 or to whatever kindred term he has most fancy for4 ,in other words1 he is so much impressed with the connection between luck and cunning1 and so anxious to avoid contradiction in terms1 that he tries to abolish cunning1 and dwells1 as ,mr4 ,darwin did1 almost exclusively upon the luck side of the matter4 ,others1 on the other hand1 find the ego no less striking than their opponents find the non-ego4 ,every hour they mould things so considerably to their pleasure that1 even though they may for argument's sake admit free-will to be an illusion1 they say with reason that no reality can be more real than an illusion which is so strong1 so persistent and so universal2 this contention1 indeed1 cannot be disputed except at the cost of invalidating the reality of all even our most assured convictions4 ,they admit that there is an apparent connection between their ego and non-ego1 their necessity and free-will1 their luck and cunning2 they grant that the difference is resolvable into a difference of degree and not of kind2 but1 on the other hand1 they say that in each degree there still lurks a little kind1 and that a difference of many degrees makes a difference of kind--there being1 in fact1 no difference between differences of degree and those of kind1 except that the second are an accumulation of the first4 ,the all-powerfulness of the surroundings is declared by them to be as completely an illusion1 if examined closely1 as the power of the individual was declared to be by their opponents1 inasmuch as the antecedents of the non-ego1 when examined by them1 prove to be not less due to the personal individual element everywhere recognisable1 than the ego1 when examined by their opponents1 proved to be mergeable in the universal4 ,they claim1 therefore1 to be able to resolve everything into spontaneity and free-will with no less logical consistency than that with which freewill can be resolved into an outcome of necessity4 ,two ,incomprehensibles ,you may assume life of some kind omnipresent for ever throughout matter4 ,this is one way4 ,another way is to assume an act of spontaneous generation1 i4e4 a transition somewhere and somewhen from absolutely non-living to absolutely living4 ,you cannot have it both ways4 ,but it seems to me that you must have it both ways4 ,you must not begin with life 7or potential life7 everywhere alone1 nor must you begin with a single spontaneous generation alone1 but you must carry your spontaneous generation 7or denial of the continuity of life7 down1 ad infinitum1 just as you must carry your continuity of life 7or denial of spontaneous generation7 down ad infinitum and1 compatible or incompatible1 you must write a scientific ,athanasian ,creed to comprehend these two incomprehensibles4 ,if1 then1 it is only an escape from one incomprehensible position to another1 cui bono to make a change8 ,why not stay quietly in the ,athanasian ,creed as we are8 ,and1 after all1 the ,athanasian ,creed is light and comprehensible reading in comparison with much that now passes for science4 ,i can give no answer to this as regards the unintelligible clauses1 for what we come to in the end is just as abhorrent to and inconceivable by reason as what they offer us2 but as regards what may be called the intelligible parts--that ,christ was born of a ,virgin1 died1 rose from the dead--we say that1 if it were not for the prestige that belief in these alleged facts has obtained1 we should refuse attention to them4 ,out of respect1 however1 for the mass of opinion that accepts them we have looked into the matter with care1 and we have found the evidence break down4 ,the same reasoning and canons of criticism which convince me that ,christ was crucified convince me at the same time that he was insufficiently crucified4 ,i can only accept his death and resurrection at the cost of rejecting everything that ,i have been taught to hold most strongly4 ,i can only accept the so-called testimony in support of these alleged facts at the cost of rejecting1 or at any rate invalidating1 all the testimony on which ,i have based all comfortable assurance of any kind whatsoever4 ,god and the ,unknown ,god is the unknown1 and hence the nothing qua us4 ,he is also the ensemble of all we know1 and hence the everything qua us4 ,so that the most absolute nothing and the most absolute everything are extremes that meet 7like all other extremes7 in ,god4 ,men think they mean by ,god something like what ,raffaelle and ,michael ,angelo have painted2 unless this were so ,raffaelle and ,michael ,angelo would not have painted as they did4 ,but to get at our truer thoughts we should look at our less conscious and deliberate utterances4 ,from these it has been gathered that ,god is our expression for all forces and powers which we do not understand1 or with which we are unfamiliar1 and for the highest ideal of wisdom1 goodness and power which we can conceive1 but for nothing else4 ,thus ,god makes the grass grow because we do not understand how the air and earth and water near a piece of grass are seized by the grass and converted into more grass2 but ,god does not mow the grass and make hay of it4 ,it is ,paul and ,apollos who plant and water1 but ,god who giveth the increase4 ,we never say that ,god does anything which we can do ourselves1 or ask him for anything which we know how to get in any other way4 ,as soon as we understand a thing we remove it from the sphere of ,god's action4 ,as long as there is an unknown there will be a ,god for all practical purposes2 the name of ,god has never yet been given to a known thing except by way of flattery1 as to ,roman ,emperors1 or through the attempt to symbolise the unknown generally1 as in fetish worship1 and then the priests had to tell the people that there was something more about the fetish than they knew of1 or they would soon have ceased to think of it as ,god4 ,to understand a thing is to feel as though we could stand under or alongside of it in all its parts and form a picture of it in our minds throughout4 ,we understand how a violin is made if our minds can follow the manufacture in all its detail and picture it to ourselves4 ,if we feel that we can identify ourselves with the steam and machinery of a steam engine1 so as to travel in imagination with the steam through all the pipes and valves1 if we can see the movement of each part of the piston1 connecting rod1 c41 so as to be mentally one with both the steam and the mechanism throughout their whole action and construction1 then we say we understand the steam engine1 and the idea of ,god never crosses our minds in connection with it4 ,when we feel that we can neither do a thing ourselves1 nor even learn to do it by reason of its intricacy and difficulty1 and that no one else ever can or will1 and yet we see the thing none the less done daily and hourly all round us1 then we are not content to say we do not understand how the thing is done1 we go further and ascribe the action to ,god4 ,as soon as there is felt to be an unknown and apparently unknowable element1 then1 but not till then1 does the idea ,god present itself to us4 ,so at coroners' inquests juries never say the deceased died by the visitation of ,god if they know any of the more proximate causes4 ,it is not ,god1 therefore1 who sows the corn--we could sow corn ourselves1 we can see the man with a bag in his hand walking over ploughed fields and sowing the corn broadcast--but it is ,god who made the man who goes about with the bag1 and who makes the corn sprout1 for we do not follow the processes that take place here4 ,as long as we knew nothing about what caused this or that weather we used to ascribe it to ,god's direct action and pray him to change it according to our wants3 now that we know more about the weather there is a growing disinclination among clergymen to pray for rain or dry weather1 while laymen look to nothing but the barometer4 ,so people do not say ,god has shown them this or that when they have just seen it in the newspapers2 they would only say that ,god had shown it them if it had come into their heads suddenly and after they had tried long and vainly to get at this particular point4 ,to lament that we cannot be more conscious of ,god and understand him better is much like lamenting that we are not more conscious of our circulation and digestion4 ,provided we live according to familiar laws of health1 the less we think about circulation and digestion the better2 and so with the ordinary rules of good conduct1 the less we think about ,god the better4 ,to know ,god better is only to realise more fully how impossible it is that we should ever know him at all4 ,i cannot tell which is the more childish--to deny him1 or to attempt to define him4 ,scylla and ,charybdis ,they are everywhere4 ,just now coming up ,great ,russell ,street ,i loitered outside a print shop4 ,there they were as usual--,hogarth's ,idle and ,virtuous ,apprentices4 ,the idle apprentice is certainly ,scylla1 but is not the virtuous apprentice just as much ,charybdis8 ,is he so greatly preferable8 ,is not the right thing somewhere between the two8 ,and does not the art of good living consist mainly in a fine perception of when to edge towards the idle and when towards the virtuous apprentice8 ,when ,john ,bunyan 7or ,richard ,baxter1 or whoever it was7 said 8,there went ,john ,bunyan1 but for the grace of ,god0 7or whatever he did say71 had he a right to be so cock-sure that the criminal on whom he was looking was not saying much the same thing as he looked upon ,john ,bunyan8 ,does any one who knows me doubt that if ,i were offered my choice between a bishopric and a halter1 ,i should choose the halter8 ,i believe half the bishops would choose the halter themselves if they had to do it over again4 ,philosophy ,as a general rule philosophy is like stirring mud or not letting a sleeping dog lie4 ,it is an attempt to deny1 circumvent or otherwise escape from the consequences of the interlacing of the roots of things with one another4 ,it professes to appease our ultimate 8,why80 though in truth it is generally the solution of a simplex ignotum by a complex ignotius4 ,this1 at least1 is my experience of everything that has been presented to me as philosophy4 ,i have often had my 8,why0 answered with so much mystifying matter that ,i have left off pressing it through fatigue4 ,but this is not having my ultimate 8,why80 appeased4 ,it is being knocked out of time4 ,philosophy and ,equal ,temperament ,it is with philosophy as with just intonation on a piano1 if you get everything quite straight and on all fours in one department1 in perfect tune1 it is delightful so long as you keep well in the middle of the key2 but as soon as you modulate you find the new key is out of tune and the more remotely you modulate the more out of tune you get4 ,the only way is to distribute your error by equal temperament and leave common sense to make the correction in philosophy which the ear does instantaneously and involuntarily in music4 ,hedging the ,cuckoo ,people will still keep trying to find some formula that shall hedge-in the cuckoo of mental phenomena to their satisfaction4 ,half the books--nay1 all of them that deal with thought and its ways in the academic spirit--are but so many of these hedges in various stages of decay4 ,god and ,philosophies ,all philosophies1 if you ride them home1 are nonsense2 but some are greater nonsense than others4 ,it is perhaps because ,god does not set much store by or wish to encourage them that he has attached such very slender rewards to them4 ,common ,sense1 ,reason and ,faith ,reason is not the ultimate test of truth nor is it the court of first instance4 ,for example3 ,a man questions his own existence2 he applies first to the court of mother-wit and is promptly told that he exists2 he appeals next to reason and1 after some wrangling1 is told that the matter is very doubtful2 he proceeds to the equity of that reasonable faith which inspires and transcends reason1 and the judgment of the court of first instance is upheld while that of reason is reversed4 ,nevertheless it is folly to appeal from reason to faith unless one is pretty sure of a verdict and1 in most cases about which we dispute seriously1 reason is as far as we need go4 ,the ,credit ,system ,the whole world is carried on on the credit system2 if every one were to demand payment in hard cash1 there would be universal bankruptcy4 ,we think as we do mainly because other people think so4 ,but if every one stands on every one else1 what does the bottom man stand on8 ,faith is no foundation1 for it rests in the end on reason4 ,reason is no foundation1 for it rests upon faith4 ,argument ,we are not won by argument1 which is like reading and writing and disappears when there is need of such vanity1 or like colour that vanishes with too much light or shade1 or like sound that becomes silence in the extremes4 ,argument is useless when there is either no conviction at all or a very strong conviction4 ,it is a means of conviction and as such belongs to the means of conviction1 not to the extremes4 ,we are not won by arguments that we can analyse1 but by tone and temper1 by the manner which is the man himself4 ,logic and ,philosophy ,when you have got all the rules and all the lore of philosophy and logic well into your head1 and have spent years in getting to understand at any rate what they mean and have them at command1 you will know less for practical purposes than one who has never studied logic or philosophy4 ,science ,if it tends to thicken the crust of ice on which1 as it were1 we are skating1 it is all right4 ,if it tries to find1 or professes to have found1 the solid ground at the bottom of the water1 it is all wrong4 ,our business is with the thickening of this crust by extending our knowledge downward from above1 as ice gets thicker while the frost lasts2 we should not try to freeze upwards from the bottom4 ,religion ,a religion only means something so certainly posed that nothing can ever displace it4 ,it is an attempt to settle first principles so authoritatively that no one need so much as even think of ever re-opening them for himself or feel any1 even the faintest1 misgiving upon the matter4 ,it is an attempt to get an irrefragably safe investment1 and this cannot be got1 no matter how low the interest1 which in the case of religion is about as low as it can be4 ,any religion that cannot be founded on half a sheet of note-paper will be bottom-heavy1 and this1 in a matter so essentially of sentiment as religion1 is as bad as being top-heavy in a material construction4 ,it must of course catch on to reason1 but the less it emphasises the fact the better4 ,logic ,logic has no place save with that which can be defined in words4 ,it has nothing to do1 therefore1 with those deeper questions that have got beyond words and consciousness4 ,to apply logic here is as fatuous as to disregard it in cases where it is applicable4 ,the difficulty lies1 as it always does1 on the border lines between the respective spheres of influence4 ,logic and ,faith ,logic is like the sword--those who appeal to it shall perish by it4 ,faith is appealing to the living ,god1 and one may perish by that too1 but somehow one would rather perish that way than the other1 and one has got to perish sooner or later4 ,common ,sense and ,philosophy ,the voices of common sense and of high philosophy sometimes cross2 but common sense is the unalterable canto fermo and philosophy is the variable counterpoint4 ,first ,principles ,it is said we can build no superstructure without a foundation of unshakable principles4 ,there are no such principles4 ,or1 if there be any1 they are beyond our reach--we cannot fathom them2 therefore1 qua us1 they have no existence1 for there is no other 8is not0 than inconceivableness by ourselves4 ,there is one thing certain1 namely1 that we can have nothing certain2 therefore it is not certain that we can have nothing certain4 ,we are as men who will insist on looking over the brink of a precipice2 some few can gaze into the abyss below without losing their heads1 but most men will grow dizzy and fall4 ,the only thing to do is to glance at the chaos on which our thoughts are founded1 recognise that it is a chaos and that1 in the nature of things1 no theoretically firm ground is even conceivable1 and then to turn aside with the disgust1 fear and horror of one who has been looking into his own entrails4 ,even ,euclid cannot lay a demonstrable premise1 he requires postulates and axioms which transcend demonstration and without which he can do nothing4 ,his superstructure is demonstration1 his ground is faith4 ,and so his ultima ratio is to tell a man that he is a fool by saying 8,which is absurd40 ,if his opponent chooses to hold out in spite of this1 ,euclid can do no more4 ,faith and authority are as necessary for him as for any one else4 ,true1 he does not want us to believe very much2 his yoke is tolerably easy1 and he will not call a man a fool until he will have public opinion generally on his side2 but none the less does he begin with dogmatism and end with persecution4 ,there is nothing one cannot wrangle about4 ,sensible people will agree to a middle course founded upon a few general axioms and propositions about which1 right or wrong1 they will not think it worth while to wrangle for some time1 and those who reject these can be put into mad-houses4 ,the middle way may be as full of hidden rocks as the other ways are of manifest ones1 but it is the pleasantest while we can keep to it and the dangers1 being hidden1 are less alarming4 ,in practice it is seldom very hard to do one's duty when one knows what it is1 but it is sometimes exceedingly difficult to find this out4 ,the difficulty is1 however1 often reducible into that of knowing what gives one pleasure1 and this1 though difficult1 is a safer guide and more easily distinguished4 ,in all cases of doubt1 the promptings of a kindly disposition are more trustworthy than the conclusions of logic1 and sense is better than science4 ,why ,i should have been at the pains to write such truisms ,i know not4 ,,xxi ,rebelliousness ,god and ,life ,,we regard these as two distinct things and say that the first made the second1 much as1 till lately1 we regarded memory and heredity as two distinct things having less connection than even that supposed to exist between ,god and life4 ,now1 however1 that we know heredity to be only a necessary outcome1 development and manifestation of memory--so that1 given such a faculty as memory1 the faculty of heredity follows as being inherent therein and bound to issue from it--in like manner presently1 instead of seeing life as a thing created by ,god1 we shall see ,god and life as one thing1 there being no life without ,god nor ,god without life1 where there is life there is ,god and where there is ,god there is life4 ,they say that ,god is love1 but life and love are co-extensive2 for hate is but a mode of love1 as life and death lurk always in one another2 and 8,god is life0 is not far off saying 8,god is love40 ,again1 they say1 8,where there is life there is hope10 but hope is of the essence of ,god1 for it is faith and hope that have underlain all evolution4 ,god and ,flesh ,the course of true ,god never did run smooth4 ,god to be of any use must be made manifest1 and he can only be made manifest in and through flesh4 ,and flesh to be of any use 7except for eating7 must be alive1 and it can only be alive by being inspired of ,god4 ,the trouble lies in the getting the flesh and the ,god together in the right proportions4 ,there is lots of ,god and lots of flesh1 but the flesh has always got too much ,god or too little1 and the ,god has always too little flesh or too much4 ,gods and ,prophets ,it is the manner of gods and prophets to begin3 8,thou shalt have none other ,god or ,prophet but me40 ,if ,i were to start as a god or a prophet1 ,i think ,i should take the line3 8,thou shalt not believe in me4 ,thou shalt not have me for a god4 ,thou shalt worship any damned thing thou likest except me40 ,this should be my first and great commandment1 and my second should be like unto it4 #ccc ,faith and ,reason ,the instinct towards brushing faith aside and being strictly reasonable is strong and natural2 so also is the instinct towards brushing logic and consistency on one side if they become troublesome1 in other words--so is the instinct towards basing action on a faith which is beyond reason4 ,it is because both instincts are so natural that so many accept and so many reject ,catholicism4 ,the two go along for some time as very good friends and then fight2 sometimes one beats and sometimes the other1 but they always make it up again and jog along as before1 for they have a great respect for one another4 ,god and the ,devil ,god's merits are so transcendent that it is not surprising his faults should be in reasonable proportion4 ,the faults are1 indeed1 on such a scale that1 when looked at without relation to the merits with which they are interwoven1 they become so appalling that people shrink from ascribing them to the ,deity and have invented the ,devil1 without seeing that there would be more excuse for ,god's killing the ,devil1 and so getting rid of evil1 than there can be for his failing to be everything that he would like to be4 ,for ,god is not so white as he is painted1 and he gets on better with the ,devil than people think4 ,the ,devil is too useful for him to wish him ill and1 in like manner1 half the ,devil's trade would be at an end should any great mishap bring ,god well down in the world4 ,for all the mouths they make at one another they play into each other's hands and have got on so well as partners1 playing ,spenlow and ,jorkins to one another1 for so many years that there seems no reason why they should cease to do so4 ,the conception of them as the one absolutely void of evil and the other of good is a vulgar notion taken from science whose priests have ever sought to get every idea and every substance pure of all alloy4 ,god and the ,devil are about as four to three4 ,there is enough preponderance of ,god to make it far safer to be on his side than on the ,devil's1 but the excess is not so great as his professional claqueurs pretend it is4 ,it is like gambling at ,monte ,carlo2 if you play long enough you are sure to lose1 but now and again you may win a great deal of excellent money if you will only cease playing the moment you have won it4 ,christianity i ,as an instrument of warfare against vice1 or as a tool for making virtue1 ,christianity is a mere flint implement4 ii ,christianity is a woman's religion1 invented by women and womanish men for themselves4 ,the ,church's one foundation is not ,christ1 as is commonly said1 it is woman2 and calling the ,madonna the ,queen of ,heaven is only a poetical way of acknowledging that women are the main support of the priests4 iii ,it is not the church in a village that is the source of the mischief1 but the rectory4 ,i would not touch a church from one end of ,england to the other4 iv ,christianity is only seriously pretended by some among the idle1 bourgeois middle-classes4 ,the working classes and the most cultured intelligence of the time reach by short cuts what the highways of our schools and universities mislead us from by many a winding bout1 if they do not prevent our ever reaching it4 v ,it is not easy to say which is the more obvious1 the antecedent improbability of the ,christian scheme and miracles1 or the breakdown of the evidences on which these are supposed to rest4 ,and yet ,christianity has overrun the world4 vi ,if there is any moral in ,christianity1 if there is anything to be learned from it1 if the whole story is not profitless from first to last1 it comes to this that a man should back his own opinion against the world's--and this is a very risky and immoral thing to do1 but the ,lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy4 vii ,christianity is true in so far as it has fostered beauty and false in so far as it has fostered ugliness4 ,it is therefore not a little true and not a little false4 viii ,christ said he came not to destroy but to fulfil--but he destroyed more than he fulfilled4 ,every system that is to live must both destroy and fulfil4 ,miracles ,they do more to unsettle faith in the existing order than to settle it in any other2 similarly1 missionaries are more valuable as underminers of old faiths than as propagators of new4 ,miracles are not impossible2 nothing is impossible till we have got an incontrovertible first premise4 ,the question is not 8,are the ,christian miracles possible80 but 8,are they convenient8 ,do they fit comfortably with our other ideas80 ,wants and ,creeds ,as in the organic world there is no organ1 so in the world of thought there is no thought1 which may not be called into existence by long persistent effort4 ,if a man wants either to believe or disbelieve the ,christian miracles he can do so if he tries hard enough2 but if he does not care whether he believes or disbelieves and simply wants to find out which side has the best of it1 this he will find a more difficult matter4 ,nevertheless he will probably be able to do this too if he tries4 ,faith i ,the reason why the early ,christians held faith in such account was because they felt it to be a feat of such superhuman difficulty4 ii ,you can do very little with faith1 but you can do nothing without it4 iii ,we are all agreed that too much faith is as bad as too little1 and too little as bad as too much2 but we differ as to what is too much and what too little4 iv ,it is because both ,catholics and myself make faith1 not reason1 the basis of our system that ,i am able to be easy in mind about not becoming a ,catholic4 ,not that ,i ever wanted to become a ,catholic1 but ,i mean ,i believe ,i can beat them with their own weapons4 v ,a man may have faith as a mountain1 but he will not be able to say to a grain of mustard seed3 8,be thou removed1 and be thou cast into the sea0--not at least with any effect upon the mustard seed--unless he goes the right way to work by putting the mustard seed into his pocket and taking the train to ,brighton4 vi ,the just live by faith1 but they not infrequently also die by it4 ,the ,cuckoo and the ,moon ,the difference between the ,christian and the ,mahomedan is only as the difference between one who will turn his money when he first hears the cuckoo1 but thinks it folly to do so on seeing the new moon1 and one who will turn it religiously at the new moon1 but will scout the notion that he need do so on hearing the cuckoo4 ,buddhism ,this seems to be a jumble of ,christianity and ,life and ,habit4 ,theist and ,atheist ,the fight between them is as to whether ,god shall be called ,god or shall have some other name4 ,the ,peculiar ,people ,the only people in ,england who really believe in ,god are the ,peculiar ,people4 ,perhaps that is why they are called peculiar4 ,see how belief in an anthropomorphic ,god divides allegiance and disturbs civil order as soon as it becomes vital4 ,renan ,there is an article on him in the ,times1 ,april #cj1 #ahhc1 of the worst ,times kind1 and that is saying much4 ,it appears he whines about his lost faith and professes to wish that he could believe as he believed when young4 ,no sincere man will regret having attained a truer view concerning anything which he has ever believed4 ,and then he talks about the difficulties of coming to disbelieve the ,christian miracles as though it were a great intellectual feat4 ,this is very childish4 ,i hope no one will say ,i was sorry when ,i found out that there was no reason for believing in heaven and hell4 ,my contempt for ,renan has no limits4 7,has he an accent to his name8 ,i despise him too much to find out47 ,the ,spiritual ,treadmill ,the ,church of ,england has something in her liturgy of the spiritual treadmill4 ,it is a very nice treadmill no doubt1 but ,sunday after ,sunday we keep step with the same old 8,we have left undone that which we ought to have done2 ,and we have done those things which we ought not to have done0 without making any progress4 ,with the ,church of ,rome1 ,i understand that those whose piety is sufficiently approved are told they may consider themselves as a finished article and that1 except on some few rare festivals1 they need no longer keep on going to church and confessing4 ,the picture is completed and may be framed1 glazed and hung up4 ,the ,dim ,religious ,light ,a light cannot be religious if it is not dim4 ,religion belongs to the twilight of our thoughts1 just as business of all kinds to their full daylight4 ,so a picture which may be impressive while seen in a dark light will not hold its own in a bright one4 ,the ,greeks and ,romans did not enquire into the evidences on which their belief that ,minerva sprang full-armed from the brain of ,jupiter was based4 ,if they had written books of evidences to show how certainly it all happened1 c4--well1 ,i suppose if they had had an endowed ,church with some considerable prizes1 they would have found means to hoodwink the public4 ,the ,peace that ,passeth ,understanding ,yes4 ,but as there is a peace more comfortable than any understanding1 so also there is an understanding more covetable than any peace4 ,the ,new ,testament ,if it is a testamentary disposition at all1 it is so drawn that it has given rise to incessant litigation during the last nearly two thousand years and seems likely to continue doing so for a good many years longer4 ,it ought never to have been admitted to probate4 ,either the testator drew it himself1 in which case we have another example of the folly of trying to make one's own will1 or if he left it to the authors of the several books--this is like employing many lawyers to do the work of one4 ,christ and the ,l4 ,n4,w4 ,railway ,admitting for the moment that ,christ can be said to have died for me in any sense1 it is only pretended that he did so in the same sort of way as the ,london and ,north ,western ,railway was made for me4 ,granted that ,i am very glad the railway was made and use it when ,i find it convenient1 ,i do not suppose that those who projected and made the line allowed me to enter into their thoughts2 the debt of my gratitude is divided among so many that the amount due from each one is practically nil4 ,the ,jumping ,cat ,god is only a less jumping kind of jumping cat2 and those who worship ,god are still worshippers of the jumping cat all the time4 ,there is no getting away from the jumping cat--if ,i climb up into heaven1 it is there2 if ,i go down to hell1 it is there also2 if ,i take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea1 even there1 and so on2 it is about my path and about my bed and spieth out all my ways4 ,it is the eternal underlying verity or the eternal underlying lie1 as people may choose to call it4 ,personified ,science ,science is being daily more and more personified and anthropomorphised into a god4 ,by and by they will say that science took our nature upon him1 and sent down his only begotten son1 ,charles ,darwin1 or ,huxley1 into the world so that those who believe in him1 c42 and they will burn people for saying that science1 after all1 is only an expression for our ignorance of our own ignorance4 ,science and ,theology ,we should endow neither2 we should treat them as we treat conservatism and liberalism1 encouraging both1 so that they may keep watch upon one another1 and letting them go in and out of power with the popular vote concerning them4 ,the world is better carried on upon the barrister principle of special pleading upon two sides before an impartial ignorant tribunal1 to whom things have got to be explained1 than it would be if nobody were to maintain any opinion in which he did not personally believe4 ,what we want is to reconcile both science and theology with sincerity and good breeding1 to make our experts understand that they are nothing if they are not single-minded and urbane4 ,get them to understand this1 and there will be no difficulty about reconciling science and theology4 ,the ,church and the ,supernatural ,if we saw the ,church wishing to back out of the supernatural and anxious to explain it away where possible1 we would keep our disbelief in the supernatural in the background1 as far as we could1 and would explain away our rejection of the miracles1 as far as was decent2 furthermore we would approximate our language to theirs wherever possible1 and insist on the points on which we are all agreed1 rather than on points of difference2 in fact1 we would meet them half way and be only too glad to do it4 ,i maintain that in my books ,i actually do this as much as is possible1 but ,i shall try and do it still more4 ,as a matter of fact1 however1 the ,church clings to the miraculous element of ,christianity more fondly than ever2 she parades it more and more1 and shows no sign of wishing to give up even the smallest part of it4 ,it is this which makes us despair of being able to do anything with her and feel that either she or we must go4 ,gratitude and ,revenge ,gratitude is as much an evil to be minimised as revenge is4 ,justice1 our law and our law courts are for the taming and regulating of revenge4 ,current prices and markets and commercial regulations are for the taming of gratitude and its reduction from a public nuisance to something which shall at least be tolerable4 ,revenge and gratitude are correlative terms4 ,our system of commerce is a protest against the unbridled licence of gratitude4 ,gratitude1 in fact1 like revenge1 is a mistake unless under certain securities4 ,cant and ,hypocrisy ,we should organise a legitimate channel for instincts so profound as these1 just as we have found it necessary to do with lust and revenge by the institutions of marriage and the law courts4 ,this is the raison d'tre of the church4 ,you kill a man just as much whether you murder him or hang him after the formalities of a trial4 ,and so with lust and marriage1 mutatis mutandis4 ,so again with the professions of religion and medicine4 ,you swindle a man as much when you sell him a drug of whose action you are ignorant1 and tell him it will protect him from disease1 as when you give him a bit of bread1 which you assure him is the body of ,jesus ,christ1 and then send a plate round for a subscription4 ,you swindle him as much by these acts as if you picked his pocket1 or obtained money from him under false pretences in any other way2 but you swindle him according to the rules and in an authorised way4 ,real ,blasphemy ,on one of our ,sunday walks near ,london we passed a forlorn and dilapidated ,primitive ,methodist ,chapel4 ,the windows were a good deal broken and there was a notice up offering #aj_/- reward to any one who should give such information as should lead to the1 c4 ,cut in stone over the door was this inscription1 and we thought it as good an example of real blasphemy as we had ever seen3 ,when ,god makes up his last account ,of holy children in his mount1 ',twill be an honour to appear ,as one new born and nourished here4 ,the ,english ,church ,abroad ,people say you must not try to abolish ,christianity until you have something better to put in its place4 ,they might as well say we must not take away turnpikes and corn laws till we have some other hindrances to put in their place4 ,besides no one wants to abolish ,christianity--all we want is not to be snubbed and bullied if we reject the miraculous part of it for ourselves4 ,at ,biella an ,english clergyman asked if ,i was a ,roman ,catholic4 ,i said1 quite civilly1 that ,i was not a ,catholic4 ,he replied that he had asked me not if ,i was a ,catholic but if ,i was a ,roman ,catholic4 ,what was ,i8 ,was ,i an ,anglican ,catholic8 ,so1 seeing that he meant to argue1 ,i replied3 8,i do not know4 ,i am a ,londoner and of the same religion as people generally are in ,london40 ,this made him angry4 ,he snorted3 8,oh1 that's nothing at all20 and almost immediately left the table4 ,as much as possible ,i keep away from ,english-frequented hotels in ,italy and ,switzerland because ,i find that if ,i do not go to service on ,sunday ,i am made uncomfortable4 ,it is this bullying that ,i want to do away with4 ,as regards ,christianity ,i should hope and think that ,i am more ,christian than not4 ,people ought to be allowed to leave their cards at church1 instead of going inside4 ,i have half a mind to try this next time ,i am in a foreign hotel among ,english people4 ,drunkenness ,when we were at ,shrewsbury the other day1 coming up the ,abbey ,foregate1 we met a funeral and debated whether or not to take our hats off4 ,we always do in ,italy1 that is to say in the country and in villages and small towns1 but we have been told that it is not the custom to do so in large towns and in cities1 which raises a question as to the exact figure that should be reached by the population of a place before one need not take off one's hat to a funeral in one of its streets4 ,at ,shrewsbury seeing no one doing it we thought it might look singular and kept ours on4 ,my friend ,mr4 ,phillips1 the tailor1 was in one carriage1 ,i did not see him1 but he saw me and afterwards told me he had pointed me out to a clergyman who was in the carriage with him4 8,oh10 said the clergyman1 8then that's the man who says ,england owes all her greatness to intoxication40 ,this is rather a free translation of what ,i did say2 but it only shows how impossible it is to please those who do not wish to be pleased4 ,tennyson may talk about the slow sad hours that bring us all things ill and all good things from evil1 because this is vague and indefinite2 but ,i may not say that1 in spite of the terrible consequences of drunkenness1 man's intellectual development would not have reached its present stage without the stimulus of alcohol--which ,i believe to be both perfectly true and pretty generally admitted--because this is definite4 ,i do not think ,i said more than this and am sure that no one can detest drunkenness more than ,i do4 #cdc ,it seems to me it will be wiser in me not to try to make headway at ,shrewsbury4 ,hell-,fire ,if ,vesuvius does not frighten those who live under it1 is it likely that ,hell-fire should frighten any reasonable person8 ,i met a traveller who had returned from ,hades where he had conversed with ,tantalus and with others of the shades4 ,they all agreed that for the first six1 or perhaps twelve1 months they disliked their punishment very much2 but after that1 it was like shelling peas on a hot afternoon in ,july4 ,they began by discovering 7no doubt long after the fact had been apparent enough to every one else7 that they had not been noticing what they were doing so much as usual1 and that they had been even thinking of something else4 ,from this moment1 the automatic stage of action having set in1 the progress towards always thinking of something else was rapid and they soon forgot that they were undergoing any punishment4 ,tantalus did get a little something not infrequently2 water stuck to the hairs of his body and he gathered it up in his hand2 he also got many an apple when the wind was napping as it had to do sometimes4 ,perhaps he could have done with more1 but he got enough to keep him going quite comfortably4 ,his sufferings were nothing as compared with those of a needy heir to a fortune whose father1 or whoever it may be1 catches a dangerous bronchitis every winter but invariably recovers and lives to #ia1 while the heir survives him a month having been worn out with long expectation4 ,sisyphus had never found any pleasure in life comparable to the delight of seeing his stone bound down-hill1 and in so timing its rush as to inflict the greatest possible scare on any unwary shade who might be wandering below4 ,he got so great and such varied amusement out of this that his labour had become the automatism of reflex action--which is1 ,i understand1 the name applied by men of science to all actions that are done without reflection4 ,he was a pompous1 ponderous old gentleman1 very irritable and always thinking that the other shades were laughing at him or trying to take advantage of him4 ,there were two1 however1 whom he hated with a fury that tormented him far more seriously than anything else ever did4 ,the first of these was ,archimedes who had instituted a series of experiments in regard to various questions connected with mechanics and had conceived a scheme by which he hoped to utilise the motive power of the stone for the purpose of lighting ,hades with electricity4 ,the other was ,agamemnon1 who took good care to keep out of the stone's way when it was more than a quarter of the distance up the slope1 but who delighted in teasing ,sisyphus so long as he considered it safe to do so4 ,many of the other shades took daily pleasure in gathering together about stone-time to enjoy the fun and to bet on how far the stone would roll4 ,as for ,tityus--what is a bird more or less on a body that covers nine acres8 ,he found the vultures a gentle stimulant to the liver without which it would have become congested4 ,sir ,isaac ,newton was intensely interested in the hygrometric and barometric proceedings of the ,danaids4 8,at any rate10 said one of them to my informant1 8if we really are being punished1 for goodness' sake don't say anything about it or we may be put to other work4 ,you see1 we must be doing something1 and now we know how to do this1 we don't want the bother of learning something new4 ,you may be right1 but we have not got to make our living by it1 and what in the name of reason can it matter whether the sieves ever get full or not80 ,my traveller reported much the same with regard to the eternal happiness on ,mount ,olympus4 ,hercules found ,hebe a fool and could never get her off his everlasting knee4 ,he would have sold his soul to find another gisthus4 ,so ,jove saw all this and it set him thinking4 8,it seems to me10 said he1 8that ,olympus and ,hades are both failures40 ,then he summoned a council and the whole matter was thoroughly discussed4 ,in the end ,jove abdicated1 and the gods came down from ,olympus and assumed mortality4 ,they had some years of very enjoyable ,bohemian existence going about as a company of strolling players at ,french and ,belgian town fairs2 after which they died in the usual way1 having discovered at last that it does not matter how high up or how low down you are1 that happiness and misery are not absolute but depend on the direction in which you are tending and consist in a progression towards better or worse1 and that pleasure1 like pain and like everything that grows1 holds in perfection but a little moment4 ,,xxii ,reconciliation ,religion ,,by religion ,i mean a living sense that man proposes and ,god disposes1 that we must watch and pray that we enter not into temptation1 that he who thinketh he standeth must take heed lest he fall1 and the countless other like elementary maxims which a man must hold as he holds life itself if he is to be a man at all4 ,if religion1 then1 is to be formulated and made tangible to the people1 it can only be by means of symbols1 counters and analogies1 more or less misleading1 for no man professes to have got to the root of the matter and to have seen the eternal underlying verity face to face--and even though he could see it he could not grip it and hold it and convey it to another who has not4 ,therefore either these feelings must be left altogether unexpressed and1 if unexpressed1 then soon undeveloped and atrophied1 or they must be expressed by the help of images or idols--by the help of something not more actually true than a child's doll is to a child1 but yet helpful to our weakness of understanding1 as the doll no doubt gratifies and stimulates the motherly instinct in the child4 ,therefore we ought not to cavil at the visible superstition and absurdity of much on which religion is made to rest1 for the unknown can never be satisfactorily rendered into the known4 ,to get the known from the unknown is to get something out of nothing1 a thing which1 though it is being done daily in every fraction of every second everywhere1 is logically impossible of conception1 and we can only think by logic1 for what is not in logic is not in thought4 ,so that the attempt to symbolise the unknown is certain to involve inconsistencies and absurdities of all kinds and it is childish to complain of their existence unless one is prepared to advocate the stifling of all religious sentiment1 and this is like trying to stifle hunger or thirst4 ,to be at all is to be religious more or less4 ,there never was any man who did not feel that behind this world and above it and about it there is an unseen world greater and more incomprehensible than anything he can conceive1 and this feeling1 so profound and so universal1 needs expression4 ,if expressed it can only be so by the help of inconsistencies and errors4 ,these1 then1 are not to be ordered impatiently out of court2 they have grown up as the best guesses at truth that could be made at any given time1 but they must become more or less obsolete as our knowledge of truth is enlarged4 ,things become known which were formerly unknown and1 though this brings us no nearer to ultimate universal truth1 yet it shows us that many of our guesses were wrong4 ,everything that catches on to realism and naturalism as much as ,christianity does must be affected by any profound modification in our views of realism and naturalism4 ,god and ,convenience ,i do not know or care whether the expression 8,god0 has scientific accuracy or no1 nor yet whether it has theological value2 ,i know nothing either of one or the other1 beyond looking upon the recognised exponents both of science and theology with equal distrust2 but for convenience1 ,i am sure that there is nothing like it--,i mean for convenience of getting quickly at the right or wrong of a matter4 ,while you are fumbling away with your political economy or your biblical precepts to know whether you shall let old ,mrs4 ,so-and-so have #e_/- or no1 another1 who has just asked himself which would be most well-pleasing in the sight of ,god1 will be told in a moment that he should give her--or not give her--the #e_/-4 ,as a general rule she had better have the #e_/- at once1 but sometimes we must give ,god to understand that1 though we should he very glad to do what he would have of us if we reasonably could1 yet the present is one of those occasions on which we must decline to do so4 ,the ,world ,even the world1 so mondain as it is1 still holds instinctively and as a matter of faith unquestionable that those who have died by the altar are worthier than those who have lived by it1 when to die was duty4 ,blasphemy ,i begin to understand now what ,christ meant when he said that blasphemy against the ,holy ,ghost was unforgiveable1 while speaking against the ,son of ,man might be forgiven4 ,he must have meant that a man may be pardoned for being unable to believe in the ,christian mythology1 but that if he made light of that spirit which the common conscience of all men1 whatever their particular creed1 recognises as divine1 there was no hope for him4 ,no more there is4 ,gaining ,one's ,point ,it is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy1 but he who has shown the most forbearance and the better temper4 ,the ,voice of ,common ,sense ,it is this1 and not the ,voice of the ,lord1 which maketh men to be of one mind in an house4 ,but then1 the ,voice of the ,lord is the voice of common sense which is shared by all that is4 ,amendes ,honorables ,there is hardly an offence so great but if it be frankly apologised for it is easily both forgiven and forgotten4 ,there is hardly an offence so small but it rankles if he who has committed it does not express proportionate regret4 ,expressions of regret help genuine regret and induce amendment of life1 much as digging a channel helps water to flow1 though it does not make the water4 ,if a man refuses to make them and habitually indulges his own selfishness at the expense of what is due to other people1 he is no better than a drunkard or a debauchee1 and ,i have no more respect for him than ,i have for the others4 ,we all like to forgive1 and we all love best not those who offend us least1 nor those who have done most for us1 but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them4 ,so a man may lose both his legs and live for years in health if the amputation has been clean and skilful1 whereas a pea in his boot may set up irritation which must last as long as the pea is there and may in the end kill him4 ,forgiveness and ,retribution ,it is no part of the bargain that we are never to commit trespasses4 ,the bargain is that if we would be forgiven we must forgive them that trespass against us4 ,nor again is it part of the bargain that we are to let a man hob-nob with us when we know him to be a thorough blackguard1 merely on the plea that unless we do so we shall not be forgiving him his trespasses4 ,no hard and fast rule can be laid down1 each case must be settled instinctively as it arises4 ,as a sinner ,i am interested in the principle of forgiveness2 as sinned against1 in that of retribution4 ,i have what is to me a considerable vested interest in both these principles1 but ,i should say ,i had more in forgiveness than in retribution4 ,and so it probably is with most people or we should have had a clause in the ,lord's prayer3 8,and pay out those who have sinned against us as they whom we have sinned against generally pay us out40 ,inaccuracy ,i am not sure that ,i do not begin to like the correction of a mistake1 even when it involves my having shown much ignorance and stupidity1 as well as ,i like hitting on a new idea4 ,it does comfort one so to be able to feel sure that one knows how to tumble and how to retreat promptly and without chagrin4 ,being bowled over in inaccuracy1 when ,i have tried to verify1 makes me careful4 ,but if ,i have not tried to verify and then turn out wrong1 this1 if ,i find it out1 upsets me very much and ,i pray that ,i may be found out whenever ,i do it4 ,jutland and 8,waitee0 ,i made a mistake in ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey in a note on p4 #ca when ,i said 8,scheria means ,jutland--a piece of land jutting out into the sea40 ,jutland means the ,land of the ,jutes4 ,and ,i made a mistake in ,alps and ,sanctuaries ,chap4 ,,iii1 speaking of the peasants in the ,val ,leventina knowing ,english1 when ,i said 8,one ,english word has become universally adopted by the ,ticinesi themselves4 ,they say #8,waitee' just as we should say #8,wait' to stop some one from going away4 ,it is abhorrent to them to end a word with a consonant so they have added #8ee1' but there can be no doubt about the origin of the word40 ,the ,avvocato ,negri of ,casale-,monferrato says that they have a word in their dialetto which1 if ever written1 would appear as 8vuaitee10 it means 8stop0 or 8look here10 and is used to attract attention4 ,this1 or something like it1 no doubt is what they really say and has no more to do with waiting than ,jutland has to do with jutting4 ,the ,parables ,the people do not act reasonably in a single instance4 ,the sower was a bad sower2 the shepherd who left his ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness was a foolish shepherd2 the husbandman who would not have his corn weeded was no farmer--and so on4 ,none of them go nearly on all fours1 they halt so much as to have neither literary nor moral value to any but slipshod thinkers4 ,granted1 but are we not all slipshod thinkers8 ,the ,irreligion of ,orthodoxy ,we do not fall foul of ,christians for their religion1 but for what we hold to be their want of religion--for the low views they take of ,god and of his glory1 and for the unworthiness with which they try to serve him4 ,society and ,christianity ,the burden of society is really a very light one4 ,she does not require us to believe the ,christian religion1 she has very vague ideas as to what the ,christian religion is1 much less does she require us to practise it4 ,she is quite satisfied if we do not obtrude our disbelief in it in an offensive manner4 ,surely this is no very grievous burden4 ,sanctified by ,faith ,no matter how great a fraud a thing may have been or be1 if it has passed through many minds an aroma of life attaches to it and it must be handled with a certain reverence4 ,a thing or a thought becomes hallowed if it has been long and strongly believed in1 for veneration1 after a time1 seems to get into the thing venerated4 ,look at ,delphi--fraud of frauds1 yet sanctified by centuries of hope and fear and faith4 ,if greater knowledge shows ,christianity to have been founded upon error1 still greater knowledge shows that it was aiming at a truth4 ,ourselves and the ,clergy ,as regards the best of the clergy1 whether ,english or foreign1 ,i feel that they and we mean in substance the same thing1 and that the difference is only about the way this thing should be put and the evidence on which it should be considered to rest4 ,we say that they jeopardise the acceptance of the principles which they and we alike cordially regard as fundamental by basing them on assertions which a little investigation shows to be untenable4 ,they reply that by declaring the assertions to be untenable we jeopardise the principles4 ,we answer that this is not so and that moreover we can find better1 safer and more obvious assertions on which to base them4 ,the ,rules of ,life ,whether it is right to say that one believes in ,god and ,christianity without intending what one knows the hearer intends one to intend depends on how much or how little the hearer can understand4 ,life is not an exact science1 it is an art4 ,just as the contention1 excellent so far as it goes1 that each is to do what is right in his own eyes leads1 when ridden to death1 to anarchy and chaos1 so the contention that every one should be either self-effacing or truthful to the bitter end reduces life to an absurdity4 ,if we seek real rather than technical truth1 it is more true to be considerately untruthful within limits than to be inconsiderately truthful without them4 ,what the limits are we generally know but cannot say4 ,there is an unbridgeable chasm between thought and words that we must jump as best we can1 and it is just here that the two hitch on to one another4 ,the higher rules of life transcend the sphere of language2 they cannot be gotten by speech1 neither shall logic be weighed for the price thereof4 ,they have their being in the fear of the ,lord and in the departing from evil without even knowing in words what the ,lord is1 nor the fear of the ,lord1 nor yet evil4 ,common straightforwardness and kindliness are the highest points that man or woman can reach1 but they should no more be made matters of conversation than should the lowest vices4 ,extremes meet here as elsewhere and the extremes of vice and virtue are alike common and unmentionable4 ,there is nothing for it but a very humble hope that from the ,great ,unknown ,source our daily insight and daily strength may be given us with our daily bread4 ,and what is this but ,christianity1 whether we believe that ,jesus ,christ rose from the dead or not8 ,so that ,christianity is like a man's soul--he who finds may lose it and he who loses may find it4 ,if1 then1 a man may be a ,christian while believing himself hostile to all that some consider most essential in ,christianity1 may he not also be a free-thinker 7in the common use of the word7 while believing himself hostile to free-thought8 ,,xxiii ,death ,fore-knowledge of ,death ,no one thinks he will escape death1 so there is no disappointment and1 as long as we know neither the when nor the how1 the mere fact that we shall one day have to go does not much affect us2 we do not care1 even though we know vaguely that we have not long to live4 ,the serious trouble begins when death becomes definite in time and shape4 ,it is in precise fore-knowledge1 rather than in sin1 that the sting of death is to be found2 and such fore-knowledge is generally withheld2 though1 strangely enough1 many would have it if they could4 ,continued ,identity ,i do not doubt that a person who will grow out of me as ,i now am1 but of whom ,i know nothing now and in whom therefore ,i can take none but the vaguest interest1 will one day undergo so sudden and complete a change that his friends must notice it and call him dead2 but as ,i have no definite ideas concerning this person1 not knowing whether he will be a man of #ei or #gi or any age between these two1 so this person will1 ,i am sure1 have forgotten the very existence of me as ,i am at this present moment4 ,if it is said that no matter how wide a difference of condition may exist between myself now and myself at the moment of death1 or how complete the forgetfulness of connection on either side may be1 yet the fact of the one's having grown out of the other by an infinite series of gradations makes the second personally identical with the first1 then ,i say that the difference between the corpse and the till recently living body is not great enough1 either in respect of material change or of want of memory concerning the earlier existence1 to bar personal identity and prevent us from seeing the corpse as alive and a continuation of the man from whom it was developed1 though having tastes and other characteristics very different from those it had while it was a man4 ,from this point of view there is no such thing as death--,i mean no such thing as the death which we have commonly conceived of hitherto4 ,a man is much more alive when he is what we call alive than when he is what we call dead2 but no matter how much he is alive1 he is still in part dead1 and no matter how much he is dead1 he is still in part alive1 and his corpse-hood is connected with his living body-hood by gradations which even at the moment of death are ordinarily subtle2 and the corpse does not forget the living body more completely than the living body has forgotten a thousand or a hundred thousand of its own previous states2 so that we should see the corpse as a person1 of greatly and abruptly changed habits it is true1 but still of habits of some sort1 for hair and nails continue to grow after death1 and with an individuality which is as much identical with that of the person from whom it has arisen as this person was with himself as an embryo of a week old1 or indeed more so4 ,if we have identity between the embryo and the octogenarian1 we must have it also between the octogenarian and the corpse1 and do away with death except as a rather striking change of thought and habit1 greater indeed in degree than1 but still1 in kind1 substantially the same as any of the changes which we have experienced from moment to moment throughout that fragment of existence which we commonly call our life2 so that in sober seriousness there is no such thing as absolute death1 just as there is no such thing as absolute life4 ,either this1 or we must keep death at the expense of personal identity1 and deny identity between any two states which present considerable differences and neither of which has any fore-knowledge of1 or recollection of the other4 ,in this case1 if there be death at all1 it is some one else who dies and not we1 because while we are alive we are not dead1 and as soon as we are dead we are no longer ourselves4 ,so that it comes in the end to this1 that either there is no such thing as death at all1 or else that1 if there is1 it is some one else who dies and not we4 ,we cannot blow hot and cold with the same breath4 ,if we would retain personal identity at all1 we must continue it beyond what we call death1 in which case death ceases to be what we have hitherto thought it1 that is to say1 the end of our being4 ,we cannot have both personal identity and death too4 ,complete ,death ,to die completely1 a person must not only forget but be forgotten1 and he who is not forgotten is not dead4 ,this is as old as non omnis moriar and a great deal older1 but very few people realise it4 ,life and ,death ,when ,i was young ,i used to think the only certain thing about life was that ,i should one day die4 ,now ,i think the only certain thing about life is that there is no such thing as death4 ,the ,defeat of ,death ,there is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death4 ,it is a case in which the going-to-happen-ness of a thing is of greater importance than the actual thing itself which cannot be of importance to the man who dies1 for ,death cuts his own throat in the matter of hurting people4 ,as a bee that can sting once but in the stinging dies1 so ,death is dead to him who is dead already4 ,while he is shaking his wings1 there is brutum fulmen but the man goes on living1 frightened1 perhaps1 but unhurt2 pain and sickness may hurt him but the moment ,death strikes him both he and ,death are beyond feeling4 ,it is as though ,death were born anew with every man2 the two protect one another so long as they keep one another at arm's length1 but if they once embrace it is all over with both4 ,the ,torture of ,death ,the fabled pains of ,tantalus1 ,sisyphus and all the rest of them show what an instinctive longing there is in all men both for end and endlessness of both good and ill1 but as torture they are the merest mockery when compared with the fruitless chase to which poor ,death has been condemned for ever and ever4 ,does it not seem as though he too must have committed some crime for which his sentence is to be for ever grasping after that which becomes non-existent the moment he grasps it8 ,but then ,i suppose it would be with him as with the rest of the tortured1 he must either die himself1 which he has not done1 or become used to it and enjoy the frightening as much as the killing4 ,any pain through which a man can live at all becomes unfelt as soon as it becomes habitual4 ,pain consists not in that which is now endured but in the strong memory of something better that is still recent4 ,and so1 happiness lies in the memory of a recent worse and the expectation of a better that is to come soon4 ,ignorance of ,death i ,the fear of death is instinctive because in so many past generations we have feared it4 ,but how did we come to know what death is so that we should fear it8 ,the answer is that we do not know what death is and that this is why we fear it4 ii ,if a man know not life which he hath seen how shall he know death which he hath not seen8 iii ,if a man has sent his teeth and his hair and perhaps two or three limbs to the grave before him1 the presumption should be that1 as he knows nothing further of these when they have once left him1 so will he know nothing of the rest of him when it too is dead4 ,the whole may surely be argued from the parts4 iv ,to write about death is to write about that of which we have had little practical experience4 ,we can write about conscious life1 but we have no consciousness of the deaths we daily die4 ,besides1 we cannot eat our cake and have it4 ,we cannot have tabul ras and tabul script at the same time4 ,we cannot be at once dead enough to be reasonably registered as such1 and alive enough to be able to tell people all about it4 v ,there will come a supreme moment in which there will be care neither for ourselves nor for others1 but a complete abandon1 a sans souci of unspeakable indifference1 and this moment will never be taken from us2 time cannot rob us of it but1 as far as we are concerned1 it will last for ever and ever without flying4 ,so that1 even for the most wretched and most guilty1 there is a heaven at last where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal4 ,to himself every one is an immortal3 he may know that he is going to die1 but he can never know that he is dead4 vi ,if life is an illusion1 then so is death--the greatest of all illusions4 ,if life must not be taken too seriously--then so neither must death4 vii ,the dead are often just as living to us as the living are1 only we cannot get them to believe it4 ,they can come to us1 but till we die we cannot go to them4 ,to be dead is to be unable to understand that one is alive4 ,dissolution ,death is the dissolving of a partnership1 the partners to which survive and go elsewhere4 ,it is the corruption or breaking up of that society which we have called ,ourself4 ,the corporation is at an end1 both its soul and its body cease as a whole1 but the immortal constituents do not cease and never will4 ,the souls of some men transmigrate in great part into their children1 but there is a large alloy in respect both of body and mind through sexual generation2 the souls of other men migrate into books1 pictures1 music1 or what not2 and every one's mind migrates somewhere1 whether remembered and admired or the reverse4 ,the living souls of ,handel1 ,shakespeare1 ,rembrandt1 ,giovanni ,bellini and the other great ones appear and speak to us in their works with less alloy than they could ever speak through their children2 but men's bodies disappear absolutely on death1 except they be in some measure preserved in their children and in so far as harmonics of all that has been remain4 ,on death we do not lose life1 we only lose individuality2 we live henceforth in others not in ourselves4 ,our mistake has been in not seeing that death is indeed1 like birth1 a salient feature in the history of the individual1 but one which wants exploding as the end of the individual1 no less than birth wanted exploding as his beginning4 ,dying is only a mode of forgetting4 ,we shall see this more easily if we consider forgetting to be a mode of dying4 ,so the ancients called their ,river of ,death1 ,lethe--the ,river of ,forgetfulness4 ,they ought also to have called their ,river of ,life1 ,mnemosyne--the ,river of ,memory4 ,we should learn to tune death a good deal flatter than according to received notions4 ,the ,dislike of ,death ,we cannot like both life and death at once2 no one can be expected to like two such opposite things at the same time2 if we like life we must dislike death1 and if we leave off disliking death we shall soon die4 ,death will always be more avoided than sought2 for living involves effort1 perceived or unperceived1 central or departmental1 and this will only be made by those who dislike the consequences of not making it more than the trouble of making it4 ,a race1 therefore1 which is to exist at all must be a death-disliking race1 for it is only at the cost of death that we can rid ourselves of all aversion to the idea of dying1 so that the hunt after a philosophy which shall strip death of his terrors is like trying to find the philosopher's stone which cannot be found and which1 if found1 would defeat its own object4 ,moreover1 as a discovery which should rid us of the fear of death would be the vainest1 so also it would be the most immoral of discoveries1 for the very essence of morality is involved in the dislike 7within reasonable limits7 of death4 ,morality aims at a maximum of comfortable life and a minimum of death2 if then1 a minimum of death and a maximum of life were no longer held worth striving for1 the whole fabric of morality would collapse1 as indeed we have it on record that it is apt to do among classes that from one cause or another have come to live in disregard and expectation of death4 ,however much we may abuse death for robbing us of our friends--and there is no one who is not sooner or later hit hard in this respect--yet time heals these wounds sooner than we like to own2 if the heyday of grief does not shortly kill outright1 it passes2 and ,i doubt whether most men1 if they were to search their hearts1 would not find that1 could they command death for some single occasion1 they would be more likely to bid him take than restore4 ,moreover1 death does not blight love as the accidents of time and life do4 ,even the fondest grow apart if parted2 they cannot come together again1 not in any closeness or for any long time4 ,can death do worse than this8 ,the memory of a love that has been cut short by death remains still fragrant though enfeebled1 but no recollection of its past can keep sweet a love that has dried up and withered through accidents of time and life4 ,,xxiv ,the ,life of the ,world to ,come ,posthumous ,life i ,to try to live in posterity is to be like an actor who leaps over the footlights and talks to the orchestra4 ii ,he who wants posthumous fame is as one who would entail land1 and tie up his money after his death as tightly and for as long a time as possible4 ,still we each of us in our own small way try to get what little posthumous fame we can4 ,the ,test of ,faith ,why should we be so avid of honourable and affectionate remembrance after death8 ,why should we hold this the one thing worth living or dying for8 ,why should all that we can know or feel seem but a very little thing as compared with that which we never either feel or know8 ,what a reversal of all the canons of action which commonly guide mankind is there not here8 ,but however this may be1 if we have faith in the life after death we can have little in that which is before it1 and if we have faith in this life we can have small faith in any other4 ,nevertheless there is a deeply rooted conviction1 even in many of those in whom its existence is least apparent1 that honourable and affectionate remembrance after death with a full and certain hope that it will be ours is the highest prize to which the highest calling can aspire4 ,few pass through this world without feeling the vanity of all human ambitions2 their faith may fail them here1 but it will not fail them--not for a moment1 never--if they possess it as regards posthumous respect and affection4 ,the world may prove hollow but a well-earned good fame in death will never do so4 ,and all men feel this whether they admit it to themselves or no4 ,faith in this is easy enough4 ,we are born with it4 ,what is less easy is to possess one's soul in peace and not be shaken in faith and broken in spirit on seeing the way in which men crowd themselves1 or are crowded1 into honourable remembrance when1 if the truth concerning them were known1 no pit of oblivion should be deep enough for them4 ,see1 again1 how many who have richly earned esteem never get it either before or after death4 ,it is here that faith comes in4 ,to see that the infinite corruptions of this life penetrate into and infect that which is to come1 and yet to hold that even infamy after death1 with obscure and penurious life before it1 is a prize which will bring a man more peace at the last than all the good things of this life put together and joined with an immortality as lasting as ,virgil's1 provided the infamy and failure of the one be unmerited1 as also the success and immortality of the other4 ,here is the test of faith--will you do your duty with all your might at any cost of goods or reputation either in this world or beyond the grave8 ,if you will--well1 the chances are #ajj to #a that you will become a faddist1 a vegetarian and a teetotaller4 ,and suppose you escape this pit-fall too4 ,why should you try to be so much better than your neighbours8 ,who are you to think you may be worthy of so much good fortune8 ,if you do1 you may be sure that you do not deserve it4 ,and so on ad infinitum4 ,let us eat and drink neither forgetting nor remembering death unduly4 ,the ,lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and the less we think about it the better4 ,starting again ad ,infinitum ,a man from the cradle to the grave is but the embryo of a being that may be born into the world of the dead who still live1 or that may die so soon after entering it as to be practically still-born4 ,the greater number of the seeds shed1 whether by plants or animals1 never germinate and of those that grow few reach maturity1 so the greater number of those that reach death are still-born as regards the truest life of all--,i mean the life that is lived after death in the thoughts and actions of posterity4 ,moreover of those who are born into and fill great places in this invisible world not one is immortal4 ,we should look on the body as the manifesto of the mind and on posterity as the manifesto of the dead that live after life4 ,each is the mechanism whereby the other exists4 ,life1 then1 is not the having been born--it is rather an effort to be born4 ,but why should some succeed in attaining to this future life and others fail8 ,why should some be born more than others8 ,why should not some one in a future state taunt ,lazarus with having a good time now and tell him it will be the turn of ,dives in some other and more remote hereafter8 ,i must have it that neither are the good rewarded nor the bad punished in a future state1 but every one must start anew quite irrespective of anything they have done here and must try his luck again and go on trying it again and again ad infinitum4 ,some of our lives1 then1 will be lucky and some unlucky and it will resolve itself into one long eternal life during which we shall change so much that we shall not remember our antecedents very far back 7any more than we remember having been embryos7 nor foresee our future very much1 and during which we shall have our ups and downs ad infinitum--effecting a transformation scene at once as soon as circumstances become unbearable4 ,nevertheless1 some men's work does live longer than others4 ,some achieve what is very like immortality4 ,why should they have this piece of good fortune more than others8 ,the answer is that it would be very unjust if they knew anything about it1 or could enjoy it in any way1 but they know nothing whatever about it1 and you1 the complainer1 do profit by their labour1 so that it is really you1 the complainer1 who get the fun1 not they1 and this should stop your mouth4 ,the only thing they got was a little hope1 which buoyed them up often when there was but little else that could do so4 ,preparation for ,death ,that there is a life after death is as palpable as that there is a life before death--see the influence that the dead have over us--but this life is no more eternal than our present life4 ,shakespeare and ,homer may live long1 but they will die some day1 that is to say1 they will become unknown as direct and efficient causes4 ,even so ,god himself dies1 for to die is to change and to change is to die to what has gone before4 ,if the units change the total must do so also4 ,as no one can say which egg or seed shall come to visible life and in its turn leave issue1 so no one can say which of the millions of now visible lives shall enter into the afterlife on death1 and which have but so little life as practically not to count4 ,for most seeds end as seeds or as food for some alien being1 and so with lives1 by far the greater number are sterile1 except in so far as they can be devoured as the food of some stronger life4 ,the ,handels and ,shakespeares are the few seeds that grow--and even these die4 ,and the same uncertainty attaches to posthumous life as to pre-lethal4 ,as no one can say how long another shall live1 so no one can say how long or how short a time a reputation shall live4 ,the most unpromising weakly-looking creatures sometimes live to ninety while strong robust men are carried off in their prime4 ,and no one can say what a man shall enter into life for having done4 ,roughly1 there is a sort of moral government whereby those who have done the best work live most enduringly1 but it is subject to such exceptions that no one can say whether or no there shall not be an exception in his own case either in his favour or against him4 ,in this uncertainty a young writer had better act as though he had a reasonable chance of living1 not perhaps very long1 but still some little while after his death4 ,let him leave his notes fairly full and fairly tidy in all respects1 without spending too much time about them4 ,if they are wanted1 there they are2 if not wanted1 there is no harm done4 ,he might as well leave them as anything else4 ,but let him write them in copying ink and have the copies kept in different places4 ,the ,vates ,sacer ,just as the kingdom of heaven cometh not by observation1 so neither do one's own ideas1 nor the good things one hears other people say2 they fasten on us when we least want or expect them4 ,it is enough if the kingdom of heaven be observed when it does come4 ,i do not read much2 ,i look1 listen1 think and write4 ,my most intimate friends are men of more insight1 quicker wit1 more playful fancy and1 in all ways1 abler men than ,i am1 but you will find ten of them for one of me4 ,i note what they say1 think it over1 adapt it and give it permanent form4 ,they throw good things off as sparks2 ,i collect them and turn them into warmth4 ,but ,i could not do this if ,i did not sometimes throw out a spark or two myself4 ,not only would ,agamemnon be nothing without the vates sacer but there are always at least ten good heroes to one good chronicler1 just as there are ten good authors to one good publisher4 ,bravery1 wit and poetry abound in every village4 ,look at ,mrs4 ,boss the original of ,mrs4 ,jupp in ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh and at ,joanna ,mills ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,butler1 ,i1 #ic4 ,there is not a village of #ejj inhabitants in ,england but has its ,mrs4 ,quickly and its ,tom ,jones4 ,these good people never understand themselves1 they go over their own heads1 they speak in unknown tongues to those around them and the interpreter is the rarer and more important person4 ,the vates sacer is the middleman of mind4 ,so rare is he and such spendthrifts are we of good things that people not only will not note what might well be noted but they will not even keep what others have noted1 if they are to be at the pains of pigeon-holing it4 ,it is less trouble to throw a brilliant letter into the fire than to put it into such form that it can be safely kept1 quickly found and easily read4 ,to this end a letter should be gummed1 with the help of the edgings of stamps if necessary1 to a strip1 say an inch and a quarter wide1 of stout hand-made paper4 ,two or three paper fasteners passed through these strips will bind fifty or sixty letters together1 which1 arranged in chronological order1 can be quickly found and comfortably read4 ,but how few will be at the small weekly trouble of clearing up their correspondence and leaving it in manageable shape6 ,if we keep our letters at all we throw them higgledy-piggledy into a box and have done with them2 let some one else arrange them when the owner is dead4 ,the some one else comes and finds the fire an easy method of escaping the onus thrown upon him4 ,so on go letters from ,tilbrook1 ,merian1 ,marmaduke ,lawson #cfd--;just as we throw our money away if the holding on to it involves even very moderate exertion4 ,on the other hand1 if this instinct towards prodigality were not so great1 beauty and wit would be smothered under their own selves4 ,it is through the waste of wit that wit endures1 like money1 its main preciousness lies in its rarity--the more plentiful it is the cheaper does it become4 ,the ,dictionary of ,national ,biography ,when ,i look at the articles on ,handel1 on ,dr4 ,arnold1 or indeed on almost any one whom ,i know anything about1 ,i feel that such a work as the ,dictionary of ,national ,biography adds more terror to death than death of itself could inspire4 ,that is one reason why ,i let myself go so unreservedly in these notes4 ,if the colours in which ,i paint myself fail to please1 at any rate ,i shall have had the laying them on myself4 ,the ,world ,the world will1 in the end1 follow only those who have despised as well as served it4 ,accumulated ,dinners ,the world and all that has ever been in it will one day be as much forgotten as what we ate for dinner forty years ago4 ,very likely1 but the fact that we shall not remember much about a dinner forty years hence does not make it less agreeable now1 and after all it is only the accumulation of these forgotten dinners that makes the dinner of forty years hence possible4 ,judging the ,dead ,the dead should be judged as we judge criminals1 impartially1 but they should be allowed the benefit of a doubt4 ,when no doubt exists they should be hanged out of hand for about a hundred years4 ,after that time they may come down and move about under a cloud4 ,after about #bjjj years they may do what they like4 ,if ,nero murdered his mother--well1 he murdered his mother and there's an end4 ,the moral guilt of an action varies inversely as the squares of its distances in time and space1 social1 psychological1 physiological or topographical1 from ourselves4 ,not so its moral merit3 this loses no lustre through time and distance4 ,good is like gold1 it will not rust or tarnish and it is rare1 but there is some of it everywhere4 ,evil is like water1 it abounds1 is cheap1 soon fouls1 but runs itself clear of taint4 ,myself and ,my ,books ,bodily offspring ,i do not leave1 but mental offspring ,i do4 ,well1 my books do not have to be sent to school and college and then insist on going into the ,church or take to drinking or marry their mother's maid4 ,my ,son ,i have often told my son that he must begin by finding me a wife to become his mother who shall satisfy both himself and me4 ,but this is only one of the many rocks on which we have hitherto split4 ,we should never have got on together2 ,i should have had to cut him off with a shilling either for laughing at ,homer1 or for refusing to laugh at him1 or both1 or neither1 but still cut him off4 ,so ,i settled the matter long ago by turning a deaf ear to his importunities and sticking to it that ,i would not get him at all4 ,yet his thin ghost visits me at times and1 though he knows that it is no use pestering me further1 he looks at me so wistfully and reproachfully that ,i am half-inclined to turn tall1 take my chance about his mother and ask him to let me get him after all4 ,but ,i should show a clean pair of heels if he said 8,yes40 ,besides1 he would probably be a girl4 ,obscurity ,when ,i am dead1 do not let people say of me that ,i suffered from misrepresentation and neglect4 ,i was neglected and misrepresented2 very likely not half as much as ,i supposed but1 nevertheless1 to some extent neglected and misrepresented4 ,i growl at this sometimes but1 if the question were seriously put to me whether ,i would go on as ,i am or become famous in my own lifetime1 ,i have no hesitation about which ,i should prefer4 ,i will willingly pay the few hundreds of pounds which the neglect of my works costs me in order to be let alone and not plagued by the people who would come round me if ,i were known4 ,the probability is that ,i shall remain after my death as obscure as ,i am now2 if this be so1 the obscurity will1 no doubt1 be merited1 and if not1 my books will work not only as well without my having been known in my lifetime but a great deal better2 my follies and blunders will the better escape notice to the enhancing of the value of anything that may be found in my books4 ,the only two things ,i should greatly care about if ,i had more money are a few more country outings and a little more varied and better cooked food4 #ahhb4 ,p4,s4--,i have long since obtained everything that a reasonable man can wish for4 #ahie4 ,posthumous ,honours ,i see ,cecil ,rhodes has just been saying that he was a lucky man1 inasmuch as such honours as are now being paid him generally come to a man after his death and not before it4 ,this is all very well for a politician whose profession immerses him in public life1 but the older ,i grow the more satisfied ,i am that there can be no greater misfortune for a man of letters or of contemplation than to be recognised in his own lifetime4 ,fortunately the greater man he is1 and hence the greater the misfortune he would incur1 the less likelihood there is that he will incur it4 #ahig4 ,posthumous ,recognition ,shall ,i be remembered after death8 ,i sometimes think and hope so4 ,but ,i trust ,i may not be found out 7if ,i ever am found out1 and if ,i ought to be found out at all7 before my death4 ,it would bother me very much and ,i should be much happier and better as ,i am4 #ahhj4 ,p4,s4--,this note ,i leave unaltered4 ,i am glad to see that ,i had so much sense thirteen years ago4 ,what ,i thought then1 ,i think now1 only with greater confidence and confirmation4 #ahic4 ,analysis of the ,sales of ,my ,books ,copies ,sold ,cash ,profit ,cash ,loss ,total ,profit ,total loss ,value of stock ,erewhon #chdc #fb #aj #aj -- #fi #c #aj -- #f #ac #j ,the ,fair ,haven #ddb -- #da #b #b -- #bg #ah #b #ac #d #j ,life and ,habit #fdj -- #d #ag #a #g #ai #a -- #ab #af #c ,evolution ,old ,new #eda -- #ajc #aa #aj -- #hi #ac #aj #ac #ah #j ,unconscious ,memory #bgb -- #ch #ac #e -- #ch #ac #e -- ,alps and ,sanctuaries #ccb -- #aac #f #d -- #aaj #ah #d #bb #h #j ,selections from ,previous ,works #abj -- #ea #d #aj -- #dh #aj #aj #b #ad #j ,luck or ,cunning8 #bhd -- #da #f #d -- #ac #ah #aj #bg #g #f ,ex ,voto #bag -- #adg #ah #j -- #aaa #h #j #cf #aj #j ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,butler #bja -- #baf #ah #j -- #aic #ah #j #bc #j #j ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey #afe -- #ha #a #c -- #ei #aj #c #ba #aa #j ,the ,iliad in ,english ,prose #aeg -- #hi #d #h -- #gg #f #h #aa #ah #j ,a ,holbein ,card #f -- #h #a #i -- #h #a #i -- ,a ,book of ,essays #j -- #c #aa #i -- -- #c #aa #i #fb #aj #aj #ifj #ag #f #gg #b #aa #ggi #ah #a #aie #aa #f ,to this must be added my book on the ,sonnets in respect of which ,i have had no account as yet but am over a hundred pounds out of pocket by it so far--little of which1 ,i fear1 is ever likely to come back4 ,it will be noted that my public appears to be a declining one2 ,i attribute this to the long course of practical boycott to which ,i have been subjected for so many years1 or1 if not boycott1 of sneer1 snarl and misrepresentation4 ,i cannot help it1 nor if the truth were known1 am ,i at any pains to try to do so4 #cfi ,worth ,doing ,if ,i deserve to be remembered1 it will be not so much for anything ,i have written1 or for any new way of looking at old facts which ,i may have suggested1 as for having shown that a man of no special ability1 with no literary connections1 not particularly laborious1 fairly1 but not supremely1 accurate as far as he goes1 and not travelling far either for his facts or from them1 may yet1 by being perfectly square1 sticking to his point1 not letting his temper run away with him1 and biding his time1 be a match for the most powerful literary and scientific coterie that ,england has ever known4 ,i hope it may be said of me that ,i discomfited an unscrupulous1 self-seeking clique1 and set a more wholesome example myself4 ,to have done this is the best of all discoveries4 ,doubt and ,hope ,i will not say that the more than coldness with which my books are received does not frighten me and make me distrust myself4 ,it must do so4 ,but every now and then ,i meet with such support as gives me hope again4 ,still1 ,i know nothing4 #ahij4 ,unburying ,cities ,of course ,i am jealous of the clat that ,flinders ,petrie1 ,layard and ,schliemann get for having unburied cities1 but ,i do not see why ,i need be2 the great thing is to unbury the city1 and ,i believe ,i have unburied ,scheria as effectually as ,schliemann unburied ,troy4 ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey4 ,true1 ,scheria was above ground all the time and only wanted a little common sense to find it2 nevertheless people have had all the facts before them for over #bejj years and have been looking more or less all the time without finding4 ,i do not see why it is more meritorious to uncover physically with a spade than spiritually with a little of the very commonest common sense4 ,apologia i ,when ,i am dead ,i would rather people thought me better than ,i was instead of worse2 but if they think me worse1 ,i cannot help it and1 if it matters at all1 it will matter more to them than to me4 ,the one reputation ,i deprecate is that of having been ill-used4 ,i deprecate this because it would tend to depress and discourage others from playing the game that ,i have played4 ,i will therefore forestall misconception on this head4 ,as regards general good-fortune1 ,i am nearly fifty-five years old and for the last thirty years have never been laid up with illness nor had any physical pain that ,i can remember1 not even toothache4 ,except sometimes1 when a little over-driven1 ,i have had uninterrupted good health ever since ,i was about five-and-twenty4 ,of mental suffering ,i have had my share--as who has not8--but most of what ,i have suffered has been1 though ,i did not think so at the time1 either imaginary1 or unnecessary and1 so far1 it has been soon forgotten4 ,it has been much less than it very easily might have been if the luck had not now and again gone with me1 and probably ,i have suffered less than most people1 take it all round4 ,like every one else1 however1 ,i have the scars of old wounds2 very few of these wounds were caused by anything which was essential in the nature of things2 most1 if not all of them1 have been due to faults of heart and head on my own part and on that of others which1 one would have thought1 might have been easily avoided if in practice it had not turned out otherwise4 ,for many years ,i was in a good deal of money difficulty1 but since my father's death ,i have had no trouble on this score--greatly otherwise4 ,even when things were at their worst1 ,i never missed my two months' summer ,italian trip since #ahgf1 except one year and then ,i went to ,mont ,st4 ,michel and enjoyed it very much4 ,it was those ,italian trips that enabled me to weather the storm4 ,at other times ,i am engrossed with work that fascinates me4 ,i am surrounded by people to whom ,i am attached and who like me in return so far as ,i can judge4 ,in ,alfred his clerk and attendant ,i have the best body-guard and the most engaging of any man in ,london4 ,i live quietly but happily4 ,and if this is being ill-used ,i should like to know what being well-used is4 ,i do not deny1 however1 that ,i have been ill-used4 ,i have been used abominably4 ,the positive amount of good or ill fortune1 however1 is not the test of either the one or the other2 the true measure lies in the relative proportion of each and the way in which they have been distributed1 and by this ,i claim1 after deducting all bad luck1 to be left with a large balance of good4 ,some people think ,i must be depressed and discouraged because my books do not make more noise2 but1 after all1 whether people read my books or no is their affair1 not mine4 ,i know by my sales that few read my books4 ,if ,i write at all1 it follows that ,i want to be read and miss my mark if ,i am not4 ,so also with ,narcissus4 ,whatever ,i do falls dead1 and ,i would rather people let me see that they liked it4 ,to this extent ,i certainly am disappointed4 ,i am sorry not to have wooed the public more successfully4 ,but ,i have been told that winning and wearing generally take something of the gilt off the wooing1 and ,i am disposed to acquiesce cheerfully in not finding myself so received as that ,i need woo no longer4 ,if ,i were to succeed ,i should be bored to death by my success in a fortnight and so1 ,i am convinced1 would my friends4 ,retirement is to me a condition of being able to work at all4 ,i would rather write more books and music than spend much time over what ,i have already written2 nor do ,i see how ,i could get retirement if ,i were not to a certain extent unpopular4 ,it is this feeling on my own part--omnipresent with me when ,i am doing my best to please1 that is to say1 whenever ,i write--which is the cause why ,i do not1 as people say1 8get on40 ,if ,i had greatly cared about getting on ,i think ,i could have done so4 ,i think ,i could even now write an anonymous book that would take the public as much as ,erewhon did4 ,perhaps ,i could not1 but ,i think ,i could4 ,the reason why ,i do not try is because ,i like doing other things better4 ,what ,i most enjoy is running the view of evolution set forth in ,life and ,habit and making things less easy for the hacks of literature and science2 or perhaps even more ,i enjoy taking snapshots and writing music1 though aware that ,i had better not enquire whether this last is any good or not4 ,in fact there is nothing ,i do that ,i do not enjoy so keenly that ,i cannot tear myself away from it1 and people who thus indulge themselves cannot have things both ways4 ,i am so intent upon pleasing myself that ,i have no time to cater for the public4 ,some of them like things in the same way as ,i do2 that class of people ,i try to please as well as ever ,i can4 ,with others ,i have no concern1 and they know it so they have no concern with me4 ,i do not believe there is any other explanation of my failure to get on than this1 nor do ,i see that any further explanation is needed4 #ahij4 ii ,two or three people have asked me to return to the subject of my supposed failure and explain it more fully from my own point of view4 ,i have had the subject on my notes for some time and it has bored me so much that it has had a good deal to do with my not having kept my ,note-,books posted recently4 ,briefly1 in order to scotch that snake1 my failure has not been so great as people say it has4 ,i believe my reputation stands well with the best people4 ,granted that it makes no noise1 but ,i have not been willing to take the pains necessary to achieve what may be called guinea-pig review success1 because1 although ,i have been in financial difficulties1 ,i did not seriously need success from a money point of view1 and because ,i hated the kind of people ,i should have had to court and kow-tow to if ,i went in for that sort of thing4 ,i could never have carried it through1 even if ,i had tried1 and instinctively declined to try4 ,a man cannot be said to have failed1 because he did not get what he did not try for4 ,what ,i did try for ,i believe ,i have got as fully as any reasonable man can expect1 and ,i have every hope that ,i shall get it still more both so long as ,i live and after ,i am dead4 ,if1 however1 people mean that ,i am to explain how it is ,i have not made more noise in spite of my own indolence in matter1 the answer is that those who do not either push the themselves into noise1 or give some one else a substantial interest in pushing them1 never do get made a noise about4 ,how can they8 ,i was too lazy to go about from publisher to publisher and to decline to publish a book myself if ,i could not find some one to speculate in it4 ,i could take any amount of trouble about writing a book but1 so long as ,i could lay my hand on the money to bring it out with1 ,i found publishers' antechambers so little to my taste that ,i soon tired and fell back on the short and easy method of publishing my book myself4 ,of course1 therefore1 it failed to sell4 ,i know more about these things now1 and will never publish a book at my own risk again1 or at any rate ,i will send somebody else round the antechambers with it for a good while before ,i pay for publishing it4 ,i should have liked notoriety and financial success well enough if they could have been had for the asking1 but ,i was not going to take any trouble about them and1 as a natural consequence1 ,i did not get them4 ,if ,i had wanted them with the same passionate longing that has led me to pursue every enquiry that ,i ever have pursued1 ,i should have got them fast enough4 ,it is very rarely that ,i have failed to get what ,i have really tried for and1 as a matter of fact1 ,i believe ,i have been a great deal happier for not trying than ,i should have been if ,i had had notoriety thrust upon me4 ,i confess ,i should like my books to pay their expenses and put me a little in pocket besides--because ,i want to do more for ,alfred than ,i see my way to doing4 ,as a natural consequence of beginning to care ,i have begun to take pains1 and am advising with the ,society of ,authors as to what will be my best course4 ,very likely they can do nothing for me1 but at any rate ,i shall have tried4 ,one reason1 and that the chief1 why ,i have made no noise1 is now explained4 ,it remains to add that from first to last ,i have been unorthodox and militant in every book that ,i have written4 ,i made enemies of the parsons once for all with my first two books4 ,erewhon and ,the ,fair ,haven4 ,the evolution books made the ,darwinians1 and through them the scientific world in general1 even more angry than ,the ,fair ,haven had made the clergy so that ,i had no friends1 for the clerical and scientific people rule the roast between them4 ,i have chosen the fighting road rather than the hang-on-to-a-great-man road1 and what can a man who does this look for except that people should try to silence him in whatever way they think will be most effectual8 ,in my case they have thought it best to pretend that ,i am non-existent4 ,it is no part of my business to complain of my opponents for choosing their own line2 my business is to defeat them as best ,i can upon their own line1 and ,i imagine ,i shall do most towards this by not allowing myself to be made unhappy merely because ,i am not fussed about1 and by going on writing more books and adding to my pile4 ,my ,work ,why should ,i write about this as though any one will wish to read what ,i write8 ,people sometimes give me to understand that it is a piece of ridiculous conceit on my part to jot down so many notes about myself1 since it implies a confidence that ,i shall one day be regarded as an interesting person4 ,i answer that neither ,i nor they can form any idea as to whether ,i shall be wanted when ,i am gone or no4 ,the chances are that ,i shall not4 ,i am quite aware of it4 ,so the chances are that ,i shall not live to be #he2 but ,i have no right to settle it so4 ,if ,i do as ,captain ,don did ,life of ,dr4 ,butler1 ,i1 opening of ,chapter ,,viii1 and invest every penny ,i have in an annuity that shall terminate when ,i am #hi1 who knows but that ,i may live on to #if1 as he did1 and have seven years without any income at all8 ,i prefer the modest insurance of keeping up my notes which others may burn or no as they please4 ,i am not one of those who have travelled along a set road towards an end that ,i have foreseen and desired to reach4 ,i have made a succession of jaunts or pleasure trips from meadow to meadow1 but no long journey unless life itself be reckoned so4 ,nevertheless1 ,i have strayed into no field in which ,i have not found a flower that was worth the finding1 ,i have gone into no public place in which ,i have not found sovereigns lying about on the ground which people would not notice and be at the trouble of picking up4 ,they have been things which any one else has had--or at any rate a very large number of people have had--as good a chance of picking up as ,i had4 ,my finds have none of them come as the result of research or severe study1 though they have generally given me plenty to do in the way of research and study as soon as ,i had got hold of them4 ,i take it that these are the most interesting--or whatever the least offensive word may be3 #a4 ,the emphasising the analogies between crime and disease4 ,erewhon4 #b4 ,the emphasising also the analogies between the development of the organs of our bodies and of those which are not incorporate with our bodies and which we call tools or machines4 ,erewhon and ,luck or ,cunning8 #c4 ,the clearing up the history of the events in connection with the death1 or rather crucifixion1 of ,jesus ,christ2 and a reasonable explanation1 first1 of the belief on the part of the founders of ,christianity that their master had risen from the dead and1 secondly1 of what might follow from belief in a single supposed miracle4 ,the ,evidence for the ,resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 ,the ,fair ,haven and ,erewhon ,revisited4 #d4 ,the perception that personal identity cannot be denied between parents and offspring without at the same time denying it as between the different ages 7and hence moments7 in the life of the individual and1 as a corollary on this1 the ascription of the phenomena of heredity to the same source as those of memory4 ,life and ,habit4 #e4 ,the tidying up the earlier history of the theory of evolution4 ,evolution ,old and ,new4 #f4 ,the exposure and discomfiture of ,charles ,darwin and ,wallace and their followers4 ,evolution ,old and ,new1 ,unconscious ,memory1 ,luck or ,cunning8 and 8,the ,deadlock in ,darwinism0 in the ,universal ,review republished in ,essays on ,life1 ,art and ,science4 #cgf #g4 ,the perception of the principle that led organic life to split up into two main divisions1 animal and vegetable4 ,alps and ,sanctuaries1 close of ,chapter ,,xiii3 ,luck or ,cunning8 #h4 ,the perception that1 if the kinetic theory is held good1 our thought of a thing1 whatever that thing may be1 is in reality an exceedingly weak dilution of the actual thing itself4 ,stated1 but not fully developed1 in ,luck or ,cunning8 ,chapter ,,xix1 also in some of the foregoing notes4 #i4 ,the restitution to ,giovanni and ,gentile ,bellini of their portraits in the ,louvre and the finding of five other portraits of these two painters of whom ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle and ,layard maintain that we have no portrait4 ,letters to the ,athenum1 c4 #aj4 ,the restoration to ,holbein of the drawing in the ,basel ,museum called ,la ,danse4 ,universal ,review1 ,nov41 #ahhi4 #aa4 ,the calling attention to ,gaudenzio ,ferrari and putting him before the public with something like the emphasis that he deserves4 ,ex ,voto4 #ab4 ,the discovery of a life-sized statue of ,leonardo da ,vinci by ,gaudenzio ,ferrari4 ,ex ,voto4 #ac4 ,the unearthing of the ,flemish sculptor ,jean de ,wespin 7called ,tabachetti in ,italy7 and of ,giovanni ,antonio ,paracca4 ,ex ,voto4 #ad4 ,the finding out that the ,odyssey was written at ,trapani1 the clearing up of the whole topography of the poem1 and the demonstration1 as it seems to me1 that the poem was written by a woman and not by a man4 ,indeed1 ,i may almost claim to have discovered the ,odyssey1 so altered does it become when my views of it are adopted4 ,and robbing ,homer of the ,odyssey has rendered the ,iliad far more intelligible2 besides1 ,i have set the example of how he should be approached4 ,the ,authoress of the ,odyssey4 #ae4 ,the attempt to do justice to my grandfather by writing ,the ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,butler for which1 however1 ,i had special facilities4 #af4 ,in ,narcissus and ,ulysses ,i made an attempt1 the failure of which has yet to be shown1 to return to the principles of ,handel and take them up where he left off4 #ag4 ,the elucidation of ,shakespeare's ,sonnets4 ,shakespeare's ,sonnets ,reconsidered4 ,i say nothing here about my novel ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh because it cannot be published till after my death2 nor about my translations of the ,iliad and the ,odyssey4 ,nevertheless these three books also were a kind of picking up of sovereigns1 for the novel contains records of things ,i saw happening rather than imaginary incidents1 and the principles on which the translations are made were obvious to any one willing to take and use them4 ,the foregoing is the list of my 8mares'-nests10 and it is1 ,i presume1 this list which made ,mr4 ,arthur ,platt call me the ,galileo of ,mares'-,nests in his diatribe on my ,odyssey theory in the ,classical ,review4 ,i am not going to argue here that they are all1 as ,i do not doubt1 sound2 what ,i want to say is that they are every one of them things that lay on the surface and open to any one else just as much as to me4 ,not one of them required any profundity of thought or extensive research2 they only required that he who approached the various subjects with which they have to do should keep his eyes open and try to put himself in the position of the various people whom they involve4 ,above all1 it was necessary to approach them without any preconceived theory and to be ready to throw over any conclusion the moment the evidence pointed against it4 ,the reason why ,i have discarded so few theories that ,i have put forward--and at this moment ,i cannot recollect one from which there has been any serious attempt to dislodge me--is because ,i never allowed myself to form a theory at all till ,i found myself driven on to it whether ,i would or no4 ,as long as it was possible to resist ,i resisted1 and only yielded when ,i could not think that an intelligent jury under capable guidance would go with me if ,i resisted longer4 ,i never went in search of any one of my theories2 ,i never knew what it was going to be till ,i had found it2 they came and found me1 not ,i them4 ,such being my own experience1 ,i begin to be pretty certain that other people have had much the same and that the soundest theories have come unsought and without much effort4 ,the conclusion1 then1 of the whole matter is that scientific and literary fortunes are1 like money fortunes1 made more by saving than in any other way--more through the exercise of the common vulgar essentials1 such as sobriety and straightforwardness1 than by the more showy enterprises that when they happen to succeed are called genius and when they fail1 folly4 ,the streets are full of sovereigns crying aloud for some one to come and pick them up1 only the thick veil of our own insincerity and conceit hides them from us4 ,he who can most tear this veil from in front of his eyes will be able to see most and to walk off with them4 ,i should say that the sooner ,i stop the better4 ,if on my descent to the nether world ,i were to be met and welcomed by the shades of those to whom ,i have done a good turn while ,i was here1 ,i should be received by a fairly illustrious crowd4 ,there would be ,giovanni and ,gentile ,bellini1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,gaudenzio ,ferrari1 ,holbein1 ,tabachetti1 ,paracca and ,d',enrico2 the ,authoress of the ,odyssey would come and ,homer with her2 ,dr4 ,butler would bring with him the many forgotten men and women to whom in my memoir ,i have given fresh life2 there would be ,buffon1 ,erasmus ,darwin and ,lamarck2 ,shakespeare also would be there and ,handel4 ,i could not wish to find myself in more congenial company and ,i shall not take it too much to heart if the shade of ,charles ,darwin glides gloomily away when it sees me coming4 ,,xxv ,poems ,prefatory ,note i4 ,translation from an ,unpublished ,work of ,herodotus ii4 ,the ,shield of ,achilles1 with ,variations iii4 ,the ,two ,deans iv4 ,on the ,italian ,priesthood ,butler wrote these four pieces while he was an undergraduate at ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,he kept no copy of any of them1 but his friend the ,rev4 ,canon ,joseph ,mc,cormick1 ,d4,d41 ,rector of ,st4 ,james's1 ,piccadilly1 kept copies in a note-book which he lent me4 ,the only one that has appeared in print is 8,the ,shield of ,achilles10 which ,canon ,mc,cormick sent to ,the ,eagle1 the magazine of ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge1 and it was printed in the number for ,december #aijb1 about six months after ,butler's death4 8,on the ,italian ,priesthood0 is a rendering of the ,italian epigram accompanying it which1 with others under the heading 8,astuzia1 ,inganno10 is given in ,raccolta di ,proverbi ,toscani di ,giuseppe ,giusti 7,firenze1 #ahec74 v4 ,a ,psalm of ,montreal ,this was written in ,canada in #ahge4 ,butler often recited it and gave copies of it to his friends4 ,knowing that ,mr4 ,edward ,clodd had had something to do with its appearance in the ,spectator ,i wrote asking him to tell me what he remembered about it4 ,he very kindly replied1 #bith ,october1 #aije3 8,the #8,psalm' was recited to me at the ,century ,club by ,butler4 ,he gave me a copy of it which ,i read to the late ,chas4 ,anderson1 ,vicar of ,s4 ,john's1 ,limehouse1 who lent it to ,matt4 ,arnold 7when inspecting ,anderson's ,schools7 who lent it to ,richd4 ,holt ,hutton who1 with ,butler's consent1 printed it in the ,spectator of #ahth ,may1 #ahgh40 ,the 8,psalm of ,montreal0 was included in ,selections from ,previous ,works 7#ahhd7 and in ,seven ,sonnets1 etc4 vi4 ,the ,righteous ,man ,butler wrote this in #ahgf2 it has appeared before only in #ahgi in the ,examiner1 where it formed part of the correspondence 8,a ,clergyman's ,doubts0 of which the letter signed 8,ethics0 has already been given in this volume 7see p4 #cjd ante74 8,the ,righteous ,man0 was signed 8,x4,y4,z40 and1 in order to connect it with the discussion1 ,butler prefaced it with a note comparing it to the last six inches of a line of railway2 there is no part of the road so ugly1 so little travelled over1 or so useless generally1 but it is the end1 at any rate1 of a very long thing4 vii4 ,to ,critics and ,others4 ,this was written in #ahhc and has not hitherto been published4 viii4 ,for ,narcissus ,these are printed for the first time4 ,the pianoforte score of ,narcissus was published in #ahhh4 ,the poem 7,a7 was written because there was some discussion then going on in musical circles about additional accompaniments to the ,messiah and we did not want any to be written for ,narcissus4 ,the poem 7,b7 shows how ,butler originally intended to open ,part ,,ii with a kind of descriptive programme1 but he changed his mind and did it differently4 ix4 ,a ,translation ,attempted in ,consequence of a ,challenge ,this translation into ,homeric verse of a famous passage from ,martin ,chuzzlewit was a by-product of ,butler's work on the ,odyssey and the ,iliad4 ,it was published in ,the ,eagle in ,march1 #ahid1 and was included in ,seven ,sonnets4 ,i asked ,butler who had challenged him to attempt the translation and he replied that he had thought of that and had settled that1 if any one else were to ask the question1 he should reply that the challenge came from me4 x4 ,in ,memoriam ,h4 ,r4 ,f4 ,this appears in print now for the first time4 ,hans ,rudolf ,faesch1 a young ,swiss from ,basel1 came to ,london in the autumn of #ahic4 ,he spent much of his time with us until #adth ,february1 #ahie1 when he left for ,singapore4 ,we saw him off from ,holborn ,viaduct ,station2 he was not well and it was a stormy night4 ,the next day ,butler wrote this poem and1 being persuaded that we should never see ,hans ,faesch again1 called it an ,in ,memoriam4 ,hans did not die on the journey1 he arrived safely in ,singapore and settled in the ,east where he carried on business4 ,we exchanged letters with him frequently2 he paid two visits to ,europe and we saw him on both occasions4 ,but he did not live long4 ,he died in the autumn of #aijc at ,vien ,tiane in the ,shan ,states1 aged #cb1 having survived ,butler by about a year and a half4 xi4 ,an ,academic ,exercise ,this has never been printed before4 ,it is a ,farewell1 and that is why ,i have placed it next after the ,in ,memoriam4 ,the contrast between the two poems illustrates the contrast pointed out at the close of the note on 8,the ,dislike of ,death0 7ante1 p4 #cei73 8,the memory of a love that has been cut short by death remains still fragrant though enfeebled1 but no recollection of its past can keep sweet a love that has dried up and withered through accidents of time and life40 ,in the ordinary course ,butler would have talked this ,sonnet over with me at the time he wrote it1 that is in ,january1 #aijb2 he may even have done so1 but ,i think not4 ,from #bnd ,january1 #aijb1 until late in ,march1 when he left ,london alone for ,sicily1 ,i was ill with pneumonia and remember very little of what happened then4 ,between his return in ,may and his death in ,june ,i am sure he did not mention the subject4 ,knowing the facts that underlie the preceding poem ,i can tell why ,butler called it an ,in ,memoriam2 not knowing the facts that underlie this poem ,i cannot tell why ,butler should have called it an ,academic ,exercise4 ,it is his last ,sonnet and is dated 8,sund4 ,jan4 #abth #aijb10 within six months of his death1 at a time when he was depressed physically because his health was failing and mentally because he had been 8editing his remains10 reading and destroying old letters and brooding over the past4 ,one of the subjects given in the section 8,titles and ,subjects0 7ante7 is 8,the diseases and ordinary causes of mortality among friendships40 ,i suppose that he found among his letters something which awakened memories of a friendship of his earlier life--a friendship that had suffered from a disease1 whether it recovered or died would not affect the sincerity of the emotions experienced by ,butler at the time he believed the friendship to be virtually dead4 ,i suppose the ,sonnet to be an ,in ,memoriam upon the apprehended death of a friendship as the preceding poem is an ,in ,memoriam upon the apprehended death of a friend4 ,this may be wrong1 but something of the kind seems necessary to explain why ,butler should have called the ,sonnet an ,academic ,exercise4 ,no one who has read ,shakespeare's ,sonnets ,reconsidered will require to be told that he disagreed contemptuously with those critics who believe that ,shakespeare composed his ,sonnets as academic exercises4 ,it is certain that he wrote this1 as he wrote his other ,sonnets1 in imitation of ,shakespeare1 not merely imitating the form but approaching the subject in the spirit in which he believed ,shakespeare to have approached his subject4 ,it follows therefore that he did not write this sonnet as an academic exercise1 had he done so he would not have been imitating ,shakespeare4 ,if we assume that he was presenting his story as he presented the dialogue in 8,a ,psalm of ,montreal0 in a form 8perhaps true1 perhaps imaginary1 perhaps a little of the one and a little of the other10 it would be quite in the manner of the author of ,the ,fair ,haven to burlesque the methods of the critics by ignoring the sincerity of the emotions and fixing on the little bit of inaccuracy in the facts4 ,we may suppose him to be saying out loud to the critics3 8,you think ,shakespeare's ,sonnets were composed as academic exercises1 do you8 ,very well then1 now what do you make of this80 ,and adding aside to himself3 8,that will be good enough for them2 they'll swallow anything40 xii4 ,a ,prayer ,extract from ,butler's ,note-,books under the date of ,february or ,march #ahhc3 8#8,cleanse thou me from my secret sins4' ,i heard a man moralising on this and shocked him by saying demurely that ,i did not mind these so much1 if ,i could get rid of those that were obvious to other people40 ,he wrote the sonnet in #aijj or #aija4 ,in the first quatrain 8spoken0 does not rhyme with 8open02 ,butler knew this and would not alter it because there are similar assonances in ,shakespeare1 e4g4 8open0 and 8broken0 in ,sonnet ,,lxi4 xiii4 ,karma ,i am responsible for grouping these three sonnets under this heading4 ,the second one beginning 8,what is't to live0 appears in ,butler's ,note-,book with the remark1 8,this wants much tinkering1 but ,i cannot tinker it0--meaning that he was too much occupied with other things4 ,he left the second line of the third of these sonnets thus3 8,them palpable to touch and view40 ,i have 8tinkered0 it by adding the two syllables 8and clear0 to make the line complete4 ,in writing this sonnet ,butler was no doubt thinking of a note he made in #ahia3 8,it is often said that there is no bore like a clever bore4 ,clever people are always bores and always must be4 ,that is1 perhaps1 why ,shakespeare had to leave ,london--people could not stand him any longer40 xiv4 ,the ,life after ,death ,butler began to write sonnets in #ahih when he was studying those of ,shakespeare on which he published a book in the following year4 7,shakespeare's ,sonnets ,reconsidered1 c47 ,he had gone to ,flushing by himself and on his return wrote to me3 #bd ,aug4 #ahih4 8,also at ,flushing ,i wrote one myself1 a poor innocent thing1 but ,i was surprised to find how easily it came2 if you like it ,i may write a few more40 ,the 8poor innocent thing0 was the sonnet beginning 8,not on sad ,stygian shore10 the first of those ,i have grouped under the heading 8,the ,life after ,death40 ,it appears in his notebooks with this introductory sentence3 8,having now learned ,shakespeare's ,sonnets by heart--and there are very few which ,i do not find ,i understand the better for having done this--on ,saturday night last at the ,hotel ,zeeland at ,flushing1 finding myself in a meditative mood1 ,i wrote the following with a good deal less trouble than ,i anticipated when ,i took pen and paper in hand4 ,i hope ,i may improve it40 ,of course ,i liked the sonnet very much and he did write 8a few more0--among them the two on ,handel which ,i have put after 8,not on sad ,stygian shore0 because he intended that they should follow it4 ,i am sure he would have wished this volume to close with these three sonnets1 especially because the last two of them were inspired by ,handel1 who was never absent from his thoughts for long4 ,let me conclude these introductory remarks by reproducing a note made in #ahhc3 8,of all dead men ,handel has had the largest place in my thoughts4 ,in fact ,i should say that he and his music have been the central fact in my life ever since ,i was old enough to know of the existence of either life or music4 ,all day long--whether ,i am writing or painting or walking1 but always--,i have his music in my head2 and if ,i lose sight of it and of him for an hour or two1 as of course ,i sometimes do1 this is as much as ,i do4 ,i believe ,i am not exaggerating when ,i say that ,i have never been a day since ,i was #ac without having ,handel in my mind many times over40 i--,translation from an ,unpublished ,work of ,herodotus ,and the ,johnians practise their tub in the following manner3--,they select #h of the most serviceable freshmen and put these into a boat and to each one of them they give an oar2 and1 having told them to look at the backs of the men before them1 they make them bend forward as far as they can and at the same moment1 and1 having put the end of the oar into the water1 pull it back again in to them about the bottom of the ribs2 and1 if any of them does not do this or looks about him away from the back of the man before him1 they curse him in the most terrible manner1 but if he does what he is bidden they immediately cry out3 8,well pulled1 number so-and-so40 ,for they do not call them by their names but by certain numbers1 each man of them having a number allotted to him in accordance with his place in the boat1 and the first man they call stroke1 but the last man bow2 and when they have done this for about #ej miles they come home again1 and the rate they travel at is about #be miles an hour2 and let no one think that this is too great a rate for ,i could say many other wonderful things in addition concerning the rowing of the ,johnians1 but if a man wishes to know these things he must go and examine them himself4 ,but when they have done they contrive some such a device as this1 for they make them run many miles along the side of the river in order that they may accustom them to great fatigue1 and many of them1 being distressed in this way1 fall down and die1 but those who survive become very strong and receive gifts of cups from the others2 and after the revolution of a year they have great races with their boats against those of the surrounding islanders1 but the ,johnians1 both owing to the carefulness of the training and a natural disposition for rowing1 are always victorious4 ,in this way1 then1 the ,johnians1 ,i say1 practise their tub4 ii--,the ,shield of ,achilles--,with ,variations ,and in it he placed the ,fitzwilliam and ,king's ,college ,chapel and the lofty towered church of the ,great ,saint ,mary1 which looketh towards the ,senate ,house1 and ,king's ,parade and ,trumpington ,road and the ,pitt ,press and the divine opening of the ,market ,square and the beautiful flowing fountain which formerly ,hobson laboured to make with skilful art2 him did his father beget in the many-public-housed ,trumpington from a slavey mother and taught him blameless works2 and he1 on the other hand1 sprang up like a young shoot and many beautifully matched horses did he nourish in his stable1 which used to convey his rich possessions to ,london and the various cities of the world2 but oftentimes did he let them out to others and whensoever any one was desirous of hiring one of the long-tailed horses he took them in order1 so that the labour was equal to all1 wherefore do men now speak of the choice of the renowned ,hobson4 ,and in it he placed the close of the divine ,parker1 and many beautiful undergraduates were delighting their tender minds upon it playing cricket with one another2 and a match was being played and two umpires were quarrelling with one another2 the one saying that the batsman who was playing was out and the other declaring with all his might that he was not2 and while they two were contending1 reviling one another with abusive language1 a ball came and hit one of them on the nose and the blood flowed out in a stream and darkness was covering his eyes1 but the rest were crying out on all sides3 8,shy it up40 ,and he could not2 him1 then1 was his companion addressing with scornful words3 8,arnold1 why dost thou strive with me since ,i am much wiser8 ,did not ,i see his leg before the wicket and rightly declare him to be out8 ,thee1 then1 has ,zeus now punished according to thy deserts and ,i will seek some other umpire of the game equally-participated-in-by-both-sides40 ,and in it he placed the ,cam and many boats equally rowed on both sides were going up and down on the bosom of the deep rolling river and the coxswains were cheering on the men1 for they were going to enter the contest of the scratchean fours2 and three men were rowing together in a boat1 strong and stout and determined in their hearts that they would either first break a blood vessel or earn for themselves the electroplated-,birmingham-manufactured magnificence of a pewter to stand on their ball tables in memorial of their strength1 and from time to time drink from it the exhilarating streams of beer whensoever their dear heart should compel them2 but the fourth was weak and unequally matched with the others and the coxswain was encouraging him and called him by name and spake cheering words3 8,smith1 when thou hast begun the contest1 be not flurried nor strive too hard against thy fate1 look at the back of the man before thee and row with as much strength as the ,fates spun out for thee on the day when thou fellest between the knees of thy mother1 neither lose thine oar1 but hold it tight with thy hands40 iii--,the ,two ,deans ,scene3 ,the ,court of ,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,enter the two deans on their way to morning chapel4 ,,junior ,,dean3 ,brother1 ,i am much pleased with ,samuel ,butler1 ,i have observed him mightily of late2 ,methinks that in his melancholy walk ,and air subdued when'er he meeteth me ,lurks something more than in most other men4 ,,senior ,,dean3 ,it is a good young man4 ,i do bethink me ,that once ,i walked behind him in the cloister1 ,he saw me not1 but whispered to his fellow3 8,of all men who do dwell beneath the moon ,i love and reverence most the senior ,dean40 ,,junior ,,dean3 ,one thing is passing strange1 and yet ,i know not ,how to condemn it2 but in one plain brief word ,he never comes to ,sunday morning chapel4 ,methinks he teacheth in some ,sunday school1 ,feeding the poor and starveling intellect ,with wholesome knowledge1 or on the ,sabbath morn ,he loves the country and the neighbouring spire ,of ,madingley or ,coton1 or perchance ,amid some humble poor he spends the day ,conversing with them1 learning all their cares1 ,comforting them and easing them in sickness4 ,oh 'tis a rare young man6 ,,senior ,,dean3 ,i will advance him to some public post1 ,he shall be chapel clerk1 some day a fellow1 ,some day perhaps a ,dean1 but as thou sayst ,he is indeed an excellent young man-- ,enter ,butler suddenly without a coat1 or anything on his head1 rushing through the cloisters1 bearing a cup1 a bottle of cider1 four lemons1 two nutmegs1 half a pound of sugar and a nutmeg grater4 ,curtain falls on the confusion of ,butler and the horror-stricken dismay of the two deans4 iv--,on the ,italian ,priesthood 7,con arte e con inganno1 si vive mezzo l'anno2 ,con inganno e con arte1 si vive l'altra parte47 ,in knavish art and gathering gear ,they spend the one half of the year2 ,in gathering gear and knavish art ,they somehow spend the other part4 v--,a ,psalm of ,montreal ,the ,city of ,montreal is one of the most rising and1 in many respects1 most agreeable on the ,american continent1 but its inhabitants are as yet too busy with commerce to care greatly about the masterpieces of old ,greek ,art4 ,in the ,montreal ,museum of ,natural ,history ,i came upon two plaster casts1 one of the ,antinous and the other of the ,discobolus--not the good one1 but in my poem1 of course1 ,i intend the good one--banished from public view to a room where were all manner of skins1 plants1 snakes1 insects1 etc41 and1 in the middle of these1 an old man stuffing an owl4 8,ah10 said ,i1 8so you have some antiques here2 why don't you put them where people can see them80 8,well1 sir10 answered the custodian1 8you see they are rather vulgar40 ,he then talked a great deal and said his brother did all ,mr4 ,spurgeon's printing4 ,the dialogue--perhaps true1 perhaps imaginary1 perhaps a little of the one and a little of the other--between the writer and this old man gave rise to the lines that follow3 ,stowed away in a ,montreal lumber room ,the ,discobolus standeth and turneth his face to the wall2 ,dusty1 cobweb-covered1 maimed and set at naught1 ,beauty crieth in an attic and no man regardeth3 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,beautiful by night and day1 beautiful in summer and winter1 ,whole or maimed1 always and alike beautiful-- ,he preacheth gospel of grace to the skin of owls ,and to one who seasoneth the skins of ,canadian owls3 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,when ,i saw him ,i was wroth and ,i said1 8,o ,discobolus6 ,beautiful ,discobolus1 a ,prince both among gods and men6 ,what doest thou here1 how camest thou hither1 ,discobolus1 ,preaching gospel in vain to the skins of owls80 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,and ,i turned to the man of skins and said unto him1 8,o thou man of skins1 ,wherefore hast thou done thus to shame the beauty of the ,discobolus80 ,but the ,lord had hardened the heart of the man of skins ,and he answered1 8,my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon40 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 8,the ,discobolus is put here because he is vulgar-- ,he has neither vest nor pants with which to cover his limbs2 ,i1 ,sir1 am a person of most respectable connections ,my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon40 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 ,then ,i said1 8,o brother-in-law to ,mr4 ,spurgeon's haberdasher1 ,who seasonest also the skins of ,canadian owls1 ,thou callest trousers #8pants1' whereas ,i call them #8trousers1' ,therefore thou art in hell-fire and may the ,lord pity thee60 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 8,preferrest thou the gospel of ,montreal to the gospel of ,hellas1 ,the gospel of thy connection with ,mr4 ,spurgeon's haberdashery to the gospel of the ,discobolus80 ,yet none the less blasphemed he beauty saying1 8,the ,discobolus hath no gospel1 ,but my brother-in-law is haberdasher to ,mr4 ,spurgeon40 ,o ,god6 ,o ,montreal6 vi--,the ,righteous ,man ,the righteous man will rob none but the defenceless1 ,whatsoever can reckon with him he will neither plunder nor kill2 ,he will steal an egg from a hen or a lamb from an ewe1 ,for his sheep and his hens cannot reckon with him hereafter-- ,they live not in any odour of defencefulness3 ,therefore right is with the righteous man1 and he taketh advantage righteously1 ,praising ,god and plundering4 ,the righteous man will enslave his horse and his dog1 ,making them serve him for their bare keep and for nothing further1 ,shooting them1 selling them for vivisection when they can no longer profit him1 ,backbiting them and beating them if they fail to please him2 ,for his horse and his dog can bring no action for damages1 ,wherefore1 then1 should he not enslave them1 shoot them1 sell them for vivisection8 ,but the righteous man will not plunder the defenceful-- ,not if he be alone and unarmed--for his conscience will smite him2 ,he will not rob a she-bear of her cubs1 nor an eagle of her eaglets-- ,unless he have a rifle to purge him from the fear of sin3 ,then may he shoot rejoicing in innocency--from ambush or a safe distance2 ,or he will beguile them1 lay poison for them1 keep no faith with them2 ,for what faith is there with that which cannot reckon hereafter1 ,neither by itself1 nor by another1 nor by any residuum of ill consequences8 ,surely1 where weakness is utter1 honour ceaseth4 ,nay1 ,i will do what is right in the eye of him who can harm me1 ,and not in those of him who cannot call me to account4 ,therefore yield me up thy pretty wings1 ,o humming-bird6 ,sing for me in a prison1 ,o lark6 ,pay me thy rent1 ,o widow6 for it is mine4 ,where there is reckoning there is sin1 ,and where there is no reckoning sin is not4 vii--,to ,critics and ,others ,o ,critics1 cultured ,critics6 ,who will praise me after ,i am dead1 ,who will see in me both more and less than ,i intended1 ,but who will swear that whatever it was it was all perfectly right3 ,you will think you are better than the people who1 when ,i was alive1 swore that whatever ,i did was wrong ,and damned my books for me as fast as ,i could write them2 ,but you will not be better1 you will be just the same1 neither better nor worse1 ,and you will go for some future ,butler as your fathers have gone for me4 ,oh6 ,how ,i should have hated you6 ,but you1 ,nice ,people6 ,who will be sick of me because the critics thrust me down your throats1 ,but who would take me willingly enough if you were not bored about me1 ,or if you could have the cream of me--and surely this should suffice3 ,please remember that1 if ,i were living1 ,i should be upon your side ,and should hate those who imposed me either on myself or others2 ,therefore1 ,i pray you1 neglect me1 burlesque me1 boil me down1 do whatever you like with me1 ,but do not think that1 if ,i were living1 ,i should not aid and abet you4 ,there is nothing that even ,shakespeare would enjoy more than a good burlesque of ,hamlet4 viii--,for ,narcissus 7,a7 7,to be written in front of the orchestral score47 ,may he be damned for evermore ,who tampers with ,narcissus' score2 ,may he by poisonous snakes be bitten ,who writes more parts than what we've written4 ,we tried to make our music clear ,for those who sing and those who hear1 ,not lost and muddled up and drowned ,in over-done orchestral sound2 ,so kindly leave the work alone ,or do it as we want it done4 7,b7 ,part ,,ii ,symphony 7,during which the audience is requested to think as follows37 ,an aged lady taken ill ,desires to reconstruct her will2 ,i see the servants hurrying for ,the family solicitor2 ,post-haste he comes and with him brings ,the usual necessary things4 ,with common form and driving quill ,he draws the first part of the will1 ,the more sonorous solemn sounds ,denote a hundred thousand pounds1 ,this trifle is the main bequest1 ,old friends and servants take the rest4 ',tis done6 ,i see her sign her name1 ,i see the attestors do the same4 ,who is the happy legatee8 ,in the next number you will see4 ix--,a ,translation 7,attempted in consequence of a challenge47 8#8,mrs4 ,harris1' ,i says to her1 #8dont name the charge1 for if ,i could afford to lay all my feller creeturs out for nothink ,i would gladly do it2 sich is the love ,i bear 'em4 ,but what ,i always says to them as has the management of matters1 ,mrs4 ,harris1'0--here she kept her eye on ,mr4 ,pecksniff--8#8be they gents or be they ladies--is1 ,dont ask me whether ,i wont take none1 or whether ,i will1 but leave the bottle on the chimley piece1 and let me put my lips to it when ,i am so dispoged4'0 7,martin ,chuzzlewit1 ,chap4 ,,xix74 8 y 1 #81 ' 1 1 ' y y y 1 ' y 1 ' 1 y 1 ' ' '0-- -- 8#8 y y ' ' y' y 1 1 ' 2 1 ' y' ' 1 ' 1 ' y4'0 x--,in ,memoriam ,feb4 #adth1 #ahie ,to ,h4 ,r4 ,f4 ,out1 out1 out into the night1 ,with the wind bitter ,north ,east and the sea rough2 ,you have a racking cough and your lungs are weak1 ,but out1 out into the night you go1 ,so guide you and guard you ,heaven and fare you well6 ,we have been three lights to one another and now we are two1 ,for you go far and alone into the darkness2 ,but the light in you was stronger and clearer than ours1 ,for you came straighter from ,god and1 whereas we had learned1 ,you had never forgotten4 ,three minutes more and then ,out1 out into the night you go1 ,so guide you and guard you ,heaven and fare you well6 ,never a cross look1 never a thought1 ,never a word that had better been left unspoken2 ,we gave you the best we had1 such as it was1 ,it pleased you well1 for you smiled and nodded your head2 ,and now1 out1 out into the night you go1 ,so guide you and guard you ,heaven and fare you well6 ,you said we were a little weak that the three of us wept1 ,are we then weak if we laugh when we are glad8 ,when men are under the knife let them roar as they will1 ,so that they flinch not4 ,therefore let tears flow on1 for so long as we live ,no such second sorrow shall ever draw nigh us1 ,till one of us two leaves the other alone ,and goes out1 out1 out into the night1 ,so guard the one that is left1 ,o ,god1 and fare him well6 ,yet for the great bitterness of this grief ,we three1 you and he and ,i1 ,may pass into the hearts of like true comrades hereafter1 ,in whom we may weep anew and yet comfort them1 ,as they too pass out1 out1 out into the night1 ,so guide them and guard them ,heaven and fare them well6 4 4 4 ,the minutes have flown and he whom we loved is gone1 ,the like of whom we never again shall see2 ,the wind is heavy with snow and the sea rough1 ,he has a racking cough and his lungs are weak4 ,hand in hand we watch the train as it glides ,out1 out1 out into the night4 ,so take him into thy holy keeping1 ,o ,lord1 ,and guide him and guard him ever1 and fare him well6 xi--,an ,academic ,exercise ,we were two lovers standing sadly by ,while our two loves lay dead upon the ground2 ,each love had striven not to be first to die1 ,but each was gashed with many a cruel wound4 ,said ,i3 8,your love was false while mine was true40 ,aflood with tears he cried3 8,it was not so1 ',twas your false love my true love falsely slew-- ,for 'twas your love that was the first to go40 ,thus did we stand and said no more for shame ,till ,i1 seeing his cheek so wan and wet1 ,sobbed thus3 8,so be it2 my love shall bear the blame2 ,let us inter them honourably40 ,and yet ,i swear by all truth human and divine ',twas his that in its death throes murdered mine4 xii--,a ,prayer ,searcher of souls1 you who in heaven abide1 ,to whom the secrets of all hearts are open1 ,though ,i do lie to all the world beside1 ,from me to these no falsehood shall be spoken4 ,cleanse me not1 ,lord1 ,i say1 from secret sin ,but from those faults which he who runs can see1 ',tis these that torture me1 ,o ,lord1 begin ,with these and let the hidden vices be2 ,if you must cleanse these too1 at any rate ,deal with the seen sins first1 'tis only reason1 ,they being so gross1 to let the others wait ,the leisure of some more convenient season2 ,and cleanse not all even then1 leave me a few1 ,i would not be--not quite--so pure as you4 xiii--,karma 7,a7 ,who paints a picture1 writes a play or book ,which others read while he's asleep in bed ,o' the other side of the world--when they o'erlook ,his page the sleeper might as well be dead2 ,what knows he of his distant unfelt life8 ,what knows he of the thoughts his thoughts are raising1 ,the life his life is giving1 or the strife ,concerning him--some cavilling1 some praising8 ,yet which is most alive1 he who's asleep ,or his quick spirit in some other place1 ,or score of other places1 that doth keep ,attention fixed and sleep from others chase8 ,which is the 8he0--the 8he0 that sleeps1 or 8he0 ,that his own 8he0 can neither feel nor see8 7,b7 ,what is't to live1 if not to pull the strings ,of thought that pull those grosser strings whereby ,we pull our limbs to pull material things ,into such shape as in our thoughts doth lie8 ,who pulls the strings that pull an agent's hand1 ,the action's counted his1 so1 we being gone1 ,the deeds that others do by our command1 ,albeit we know them not1 are still our own4 ,he lives who does and he who does still lives1 ,whether he wots of his own deeds or no4 ,who knows the beating of his heart1 that drives ,blood to each part1 or how his limbs did grow8 ,if life be naught but knowing1 then each breath ,we draw unheeded must be reckon'd death4 7,c7 8,men's work we have10 quoth one1 8but we want them-- ,them1 palpable to touch and clear to view40 ,is it so nothing1 then1 to have the gem ,but we must weep to have the setting too8 ,body is a chest wherein the tools abide ,with which the craftsman works as best he can ,and1 as the chest the tools within doth hide1 ,so doth the body crib and hide the man4 ,nay1 though great ,shakespeare stood in flesh before us1 ,should heaven on importunity release him1 ,is it so certain that he might not bore us1 ,so sure but we ourselves might fail to please him8 ,who prays to have the moon full soon would pray1 ,once it were his1 to have it taken away4 xiv--,the ,life ,after ,death 7,a7 ,not on sad ,stygian shore1 nor in clear sheen ,of far ,elysian plain1 shall we meet those ,among the dead whose pupils we have been1 ,nor those great shades whom we have held as foes2 ,no meadow of asphodel our feet shall tread1 ,nor shall we look each other in the face ,to love or hate each other being dead1 ,hoping some praise1 or fearing some disgrace4 ,we shall not argue saying 8',twas thus0 or 8,thus10 ,our argument's whole drift we shall forget2 ,who's right1 who's wrong1 'twill be all one to us2 ,we shall not even know that we have met4 ,yet meet we shall1 and part1 and meet again1 ,where dead men meet1 on lips of living men4 7,b7 ,,handel ,there doth great ,handel live1 imperious still1 ,invisible and impalpable as air1 ,but forcing flesh and blood to work his will ,effectually as though his flesh were there2 ,he who gave eyes to ears and showed in sound ,all thoughts and things in earth or heaven above4 ,from fire and hailstones running along the ground ,to ,galatea grieving for her love2 ,he who could show to all unseeing eyes ,glad shepherds watching o'er their flocks by night1 ,or ,iphis angel-wafted to the skies1 ,or ,jordan standing as an heap upright-- ,he'll meet both ,jones and me and clap or hiss us ,vicariously for having writ ,narcissus4 7,c7 ,,handel ,father of my poor music--if such small ,offspring as mine1 so born out of due time1 ,so scorn'd1 can be called fatherful at all1 ,or dare to thy high sonship's rank to climb-- ,best lov'd of all the dead whom ,i love best1 ,though ,i love many another dearly too1 ,you in my heart take rank above the rest2 ,king of those kings that most control me1 you1 ,you were about my path1 about my bed ,in boyhood always and1 where'er ,i be1 ,whate'er ,i think or do1 you1 in my head1 ,ground-bass to all my thoughts1 are still with me2 ,methinks the very worms will find some strain ,of yours still lingering in my wasted brain4 ,footnotes #af 8,the doctrine preached by ,weismann was that to start with the body and inquire how its characters got into the germ was to view the sequence from the wrong end2 the proper starting point was the germ1 and the real question was not #8,how do the characters of the organism get into the germ-cell which it produces8' but #8,how are the characters of an organism represented in the germ which produces it8' ,or1 as ,samuel ,butler has it1 the proper statement of the relation between successive generations is not to say that a hen produces another hen through the medium of an egg1 but to say that a hen is merely an egg's way of producing another egg40 ,breeding and the ,mendelian ,discovery1 by ,a4 ,d4 ,darbishire4 ,cassell ,co41 #aiaa1 p4 #ahg-h4 8,it has1 ,i believe1 been often remarked that a hen is only an egg's way of making another egg40 ,life and ,habit1 ,trbner ,co41 #ahgh1 chapter viii1 p4 #acd4 ,and compare the idea underlying 8,the ,world of the ,unborn0 in ,erewhon4 #bf ,the two chapters entitled 8,the ,rights of ,animals0 and 8,the ,rights of ,vegetables0 appeared first in the new and revised edition of ,erewhon #aija and form part of the additions referred to in the preface to that book4 #cj ,on the ,alps ,it is reported thou didst eat strange flesh1 ,which some did die to look on3 and all this-- ,it wounds thine honour that ,i speak it now-- ,was borne so like a soldier1 that thy cheek ,so much as lank'd not4--,ant4 ,cleop41 ,i4 iv4 #ff-ga4 #ca ,walks in the ,regions of ,science and ,faith1 by ,harvey ,goodwin1 ,d4,d41 ,lord ,bishop of ,carlisle4 ,john ,murray1 #ahhc4 #cb;a ,this quotation occurs on the title page of ,charles ,dickens and ,rochester by ,robert ,langton4 ,chapman ,hall1 #ahhj4 ,reprinted with additions from the ,papers of the ,manchester ,literary ,club1 ,vol4 ,,vi1 #ahhj4 ,but the italics are ,butler's4 #cb;b ,this is ,butler's note as he left it4 ,he made it just about the time he hit upon the theory that the ,odyssey was written by a woman4 ,if it had caught his eye after that theory had become established in his mind1 he would have edited it so as to avoid speaking of ,homer as the author of the poem4 #da ,life and ,habit is dated #ahgh1 but it actually appeared on ,butler's birthday1 #dth ,december1 #ahgg4 #ib ,the five notes here amalgamated together into 8,croesus and his ,kitchen-,maid0 were to have been part of an article for the ,universal ,review1 but1 before ,butler wrote it1 the review died4 ,i suppose1 but ,i do not now remember1 that the article would have been about ,mind and ,matter or ,organs and ,tools1 and1 possibly1 all the concluding notes of this group1 beginning with 8,our ,cells10 would have been introduced as illustrations4 #ajf ,cf4 the note 8,reproduction10 p4 #af ante4 #ajg ,evolution ,old ,new1 p4 #gg4 #abh ,twelve ,voluntaries and ,fugues for the ,organ or ,harpsichord with ,rules for ,tuning4 ,by the celebrated ,mr4 ,handel4 ,butler had a copy of this book and gave it to the ,british ,museum 7,press ,mark1 e4 #ajhi74 ,we showed the rules to ,rockstro1 who said they were very interesting and probably authentic2 they would tune the instrument in one of the mean tone temperaments4 #aca ,mr4 ,kemp lived in ,barnard's ,inn on my staircase4 ,he was in the box-office at ,drury ,lane ,theatre4 ,see a further note about him on p4 #acc post4 #acf ,if ,i remember right1 the original ,jubilee sixpence had to be altered because it was so like a half-sovereign that1 on being gilded1 it passed as one4 #adg ,raffaelle's picture 8,the ,virgin and child attended by ,s4 ,john the ,baptist and ,s4 ,nicholas of ,bari0 7commonly known as the 8,madonna degli ,ansidei071 ,no4 #aaga1 ,room ,,vi in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 was purchased in #ahhe4 ,butler made this note in the same year2 he revised the note in #ahig but1 owing to changes in the gallery and in the attributions1 ,i have found it necessary to modernise his descriptions of the other pictures with gold thread work so as to make them agree with the descriptions now 7#aiab7 on the pictures themselves4 #aea ,cf4 the passage in ,alps and ,sanctuaries1 chapter ,,xiii1 beginning 8,the question whether it is better to abide quiet and take advantages of opportunities that come or to go further afield in search of them is one of the oldest which living beings have had to deal with4 4 4 4 ,the schism still lasts and has resulted in two great sects--animals and plants40 #aec ,prince was my cat when ,i lived in ,barnard's ,inn4 ,he used to stray into ,mr4 ,kemp's rooms on my landing 7see p4 #aca ante74 ,mrs4 ,kemp's sister brought her child to see them1 and the child1 playing with ,prince one day1 made a discovery and exclaimed3 8,oh6 it's got pins in its toes40 ,butler put this into ,the ,way of all ,flesh4 #afb ,philippians i4 #ae-ah3-- ,some indeed preach ,christ even of envy and strife2 and some also of good will3 ,the one preach ,christ of contention1 not sincerely1 supposing to add affliction to my bonds3 ,but the other of love1 knowing that ,i am set for the defence of the gospel4 ,what then8 notwithstanding1 every way1 whether in pretence1 or in truth1 ,christ is preached2 and ,i therein do rejoice1 yea1 and will rejoice4 #agf ,narcissus1 8,should ,riches mate with ,love40 #bce ,butler gave this as a subject to ,mr4 ,e4 ,p4 ,larken who made it into a short story entitled 8,the ,priest's ,bargain10 which appeared in the ,pall ,mall ,magazine1 ,may1 #ahig4 #bjc ,all things have ,i seen in the days of my vanity3 there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness1 and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness4 ,be not righteous over much2 neither make thyself over wise3 why shouldest thou destroy thyself8 ,be not over much wicked1 neither be thou foolish3 why shouldest thou die before thy time8 7,eccles4 vii4 #ae1 #af1 #ag74 #bjd ,cf4 8,imaginary ,worlds10 p4 #bcc post4 #bbe 8,so1 again1 it is said that when ,andromeda and ,perseus had travelled but a little way from the rock where ,andromeda had so long been chained1 she began upbraiding him with the loss of her dragon who1 on the whole1 she said1 had been very good to her4 ,the only things we really hate are unfamiliar things40 ,life ,habit1 ,chapter viii1 p4 #ach_/i4 #bea ,this note is one of those that appeared in the ,new ,quarterly ,review4 ,the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,richard ,grosvenor did not see it there1 but a few years later ,i lent her my copy4 ,she wrote to me #ca ,december1 #aiaa4 8,the notes are delightful4 ,by the way ,i can add to one4 ,when ,mr4 ,butler came to tell me he was going to stay with ,dr4 ,creighton1 he told me that ,alfred had decided he might go on finding the little flake of tobacco in the letter4 ,then he asked me if ,i would lend him a prayer-book as he thought the bishop's man ought to find one in his portmanteau when he unpacked1 the visit being from a ,saturday to ,monday4 ,i fetched one and he said3 8#8,is it cut8'0 #bfa 8,ramblings in ,cheapside0 in ,essays on ,life1 ,art and ,science4 #bfc ,edmund ,gurney1 author of ,the ,power of ,sound1 and ,secretary of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 #bgi ,cf4 ,wamba's explanation of the ,saxon swine being converted into ,norman pork on their death4 ,ivanhoe1 ,chap4 ,i4 #bhb ,see 8,a ,medieval ,girl ,school0 in ,essays on ,life1 ,art ,science4 #ccc 8,above all things1 let no unwary reader do me the injustice of believing in me4 ,in that ,i write at all ,i am among the damned4 ,if he must believe in anything1 let him believe in the music of ,handel1 the painting of ,giovanni ,bellini1 and in the thirteenth chapter of ,st4 ,paul's ,first ,epistle to the ,corinthians0 7,life and ,habit1 close of chapter ,,ii74 #cdc 8,no one can hate drunkenness more than ,i do1 but ,i am confident the human intellect owes its superiority over that of the lower animals in great measure to the stimulus which alcohol has given to imagination--imagination being little else than another name for illusion0 7,alps and ,sanctuaries1 chapter ,,iii74 #cfd ,there are letters from these people in ,the ,life and ,letters of ,dr4 ,samuel ,butler4 #cfi ,butler made this note in #ahii before the publication of ,shakespeare's ,sonnets ,reconsidered1 which was published in the same year4 ,the ,odyssey ,rendered info ,english ,prose appeared in #aijj and ,erewhon ,revisited1 the last book published in his lifetime1 in #aija4 ,he made no analysis of the sales of these three books1 nor of the sales of ,a ,first ,year in ,canterbury ,settlement published in #ahfc1 nor of his pamphlet ,the ,evidence for the ,resurrection1 published in #ahfe4 ,the ,way of all ,flesh and ,essays on ,life1 ,art1 and ,science were not published till after his death4 ,i do not know what he means by ,a ,book of ,essays1 unless it may be that he incurred an outlay of #c #aas4 #i;d4 in connection with a projected republication of his articles in the ,universal ,review or of some of his ,italian articles about the ,odyssey4 #cgf ,butler had two separate grounds of complaint against ,charles ,darwin1 one scientific1 the other personal4 ,with regard to the personal quarrel some facts came to light after ,butler's death and the subject is dealt with in a pamphlet entitled ,charles ,darwin and ,samuel ,butler3 ,a ,step towards ,reconciliation1 by ,henry ,festing ,jones 7,a4 ,c4 ,fifield1 #aiaa74